


Familia Ante Omnia

by LadyWallace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: But For the Right Reasons, Cas being Jack's actual father, Dad Cas, Dean is angry, Episode: s14e17 Game Night, Gen, How Season 14 Should Have Ended, Jack can use his powers, Jack does stupid things, Jack wants to save Cas, Nick is still a psycho, Operation Save Cas, Post-Episode: s14e14 Ouroboros, Sam is supportive, Season 14 AUs, Some angst and hurt/comfort, Team Free Dads, The Winchesters find out about the Empty Deal, Worried Castiel, but also supportive, major fix it, mostly family feels - Freeform, there are actual conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-06-26 20:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19776154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: Michael is defeated and it looks like the Winchesters can finally start settling down again. But of course it never goes like that. Not when they find out that Cas has a sword hanging over his head and Jack is determined to find a way to save him at any cost—even if it means seeking the help of other enemies to do it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Finally getting this S14 AU up. This one changed tracks a lot, but I finally just decided to keep it simple, so I hope you enjoy it :) This one is set directly after "Oroborus" and kind of encompasses the storyline through "Game Night" some parts heavily AU and other parts not so much. Pretty much how most of my AUs go lol. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this.
> 
> Also thanks to Aini Nufire for helping me figure out a title (which I was really cutting close this time lol)

_Dean stood in the middle of the wreckage—all that was left of the bar in his mind now that Michael had escaped. Panic fluttered in his chest as he turned slowly, heart hammering as he looked for where the archangel might be hiding._

_"Dean," came the sing-song call from outside the door and Dean started, whipping around, but no one was there. He took a shuddering breath and turned back to the open cooler where the frigid air was creating condensation in the warmer air outside, swirling out into the bar, adding to the eerie setting._

_"Boo."_

_Dean swung around, nearly running directly into Michael who instantly grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Dean's feet kicked as he clawed at the archangel's hands, even though he knew how futile the action was._

_Michael tsked. "You really thought you could keep me locked up in there forever? You with your weak, little, human mind?"_

_Michael was walking slowly over to the cooler, still holding Dean aloft by the throat. He finally threw Dean inside, and the hunter landed heavily on his back, knocking the small bit of air he had managed to get after Michael had released his throat out of him again._

_He tried to scramble up but Michael took a casual step forward and shoved a foot into his chest, forcing him back. "No. Now you'll see what it's like to be trapped in here again. But I think we need a little…modification."_

_He snapped his fingers and the cooler turned into a glass tank and Michael was standing outside of it, peering through the glass. Dean scrambled to his feet, slamming his palms against the glass as Michael stood there, grinning. He snapped his fingers again and water started pouring over Dean like a shower, but there was no drain. The water began to pool around his feet, then up to his knees, and fast approaching his hips. He slammed his fists against the glass until they bled and red blossomed through the water in the tank. He screamed at his captor, but all through it, Michael simply watched with a cruel smile on his face._

_"Face it, Dean," he said, "You can't escape me. Not really. I'm all up here." He tapped his temple and Dean floundered in the water, now up to his chin._

_He tried to will it away. It was_ his _mind, he got to call the shots. That's how he had kept Michael locked up so long. But there was no give. There was nothing he could do as the water flowed over his mouth and then his nose and eyes, and then all he was doing was drowning…_

~~~~~~~~~

Dean shot awake with a strangled scream, gasping for breath.

"Hey, hey."

Dean jerked to the side, startled by the voice and was surprised—or maybe he shouldn't have been—to see Sam sitting by the side of his bed, reading in the soothing light of his desk lamp.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing in here?" Dean asked hoarsely, running a hand through his hair and wincing as he brushed against the scar still on his forehead. Cas promised to fix it tomorrow, but Michael had messed all of them up and Cas was low on power from being poisoned by the gorgon too. It wasn't like it was the worse concussion he'd ever had anyway.

Sam gave him a sympathetic look. "You were screaming in your sleep. I figured, given recent events, you shouldn't have to wake up alone."

Dean watched his brother, wanting to bitch, but really, he was grateful. And he also saw the unspoken words behind Sam's eyes: his brother didn't want to wake up alone tonight either. Of course to wake up, you actually had to go to sleep, and Dean didn't think Sam had even bothered to try.

Dean sighed heavily and slumped back against his headboard, still reminding himself that he could breathe, that he wasn't actually drowning. And that Michael was actually dead.

"I just can't believe he's gone, and I mean _really_ gone," Dean said softly, a haunted ring in his voice. "It just…it doesn't seem real, you know?"

"Yeah, I do, trust me," Sam said wryly. And of course he did. It was only recently that Lucifer had finally died. And Dean hadn't been there to remind Sam of that fact when he undoubtedly woke up screaming too after the fact. Dean would never forgive himself for that, whether it had been intentional or not.

And now it looked like most of their troubles at least were over. But not without a heavy price. They had burned a hell of a lot of hunters that day. Good men and women. Dean didn't really know them—truthfully, hadn't really bothered. But Sam had. Sam had run the whole operation, and he'd done a hell of a job with it. And now Dean saw the weight of every death hanging off his little brother's shoulders. Sam may be a damn fine leader, but he was certainly not immune to feeling the burdens that came with such positions. And losing pretty much his whole team in one go? Yeah, Dean knew why his brother was up reading in his room, giving him the story about watching over him.

Sam closed his book in his lap, running his fingers along the pages. "What do we do now?"

Dean frowned. "What do we do? Back to normal, that's what we do. But not without some time off. I say we take a solid week. Get some real sleep, maybe visit Mom…" He shrugged, cringing a little as he continued. "Keep an eye on Jack. Make sure he's okay with his newfound powers."

Sam sat up a little straighter, a furrow between his brows. "Are you…you don't think taking Michael's grace is going to affect Jack negatively, do you?"

"Dude, I'm not trying to start a fight about this," Dean said wearily, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "But he's been using Lily Sunder's magic for a while and we don't really know what the residue of that will do working with grace. Besides, it's not even his, it's another angel's grace. That didn't work out so well for Cas."

"But Cas was still _Cas_ ," Sam said insistently.

"And I'm not saying Jack isn't going to be Jack!" Dean replied. "I'm just saying, it may not be good for the kid. But maybe it's different with archangels and nephillim. After all, Lucifer didn't seem to have any ill effects drinking all those angels dry. Maybe it just means he has powers again. And, man, I _hope_ that's the case. No one hopes that more than me."

Sam slumped, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, me too. I really want nothing more than to think this whole thing is the win we've been needing. And if Michael really is gone…"

"Then there are no more big-bads out there to deal with," Dean finished and just realizing that made him relax fractionally. "Hell, if we could go back to just hunting vamps and werewolves then I might rethink my opinion on retiring."

Sam huffed a small chuckle. "Yeah, that…would actually kind of be awesome. Or, you know, by our standards anyway. Practically like a vacation."

Dean mustered a grin and clapped Sam on the knee. "Just the four of us back on the road, teaching Jack the ropes—saving people, hunting things…"

Sam nodded slowly, then turned back toward his brother, sobering. "You are okay though, right Dean? Nothing…Michael didn't do any damage on his way out?"

Dean waved a hand. "You know Cas gave me a full bill of health, or close enough anyway. Only thing is I'm exhausted. But a couple days rest and relaxation should put me to rights." If he could just get any number of hours together without being yanked out of sleep by crippling nightmares.

Sam smiled. "Yeah. It would do us all good."

Dean settled back into his bed and folded his hands over his stomach, closing his eyes. "You should try to get some sleep too," he told him.

"Yeah, sure," Sam replied quietly and Dean knew he wouldn't be leaving that chair tonight and probably wouldn't be shutting his eyes either.

But that was okay. There was plenty of time for Sam to recover too. If only the nightmares would go away, Dean might catch up on his lack of sleep for the last few months.

Until then, he would just do as well as he could. And he'd be grateful for Sam waking him if his dreams got to be too much.

_~~~~~~~~_

_Jack padded quietly into the kitchen_ in his socks and pajamas. He'd heard Dean having nightmares, and the quiet voices coming from his room, so Sam must be in there as well. Jack was still getting over the fear from seeing Dean unconscious. He'd sat with the elder Winchester in the back of the Impala as Sam drove frantically back to the bunker and having Dean not wake up that whole time had been frightening, especially since even Cas or Rowena couldn't tell what was wrong with him, or how to help.

It had seemed to be a miracle that Dean had woken up at all; of course, only to have Michael escape his prison in Dean's mind.

And then Michael had killed the hunters and Jack had killed him as he had promised to do since before he escaped the apocalypse world. He didn't necessarily care if there was a cost, but he worried all the same.

Jack stopped in his quest for a cup, leaning against the counter as he closed his eyes and looked inward a bit tentatively. The grace felt unfamiliar, like a new pair of shoes. Maybe he would have to break it in in a similar way. He hadn't tried to use it since he'd killed Michael. Honestly, he was a little afraid to do so.

Unlike the magic he had been using, imparted to him by Lily Sunder, he knew this, being angel grace, would not burn off his soul, but at the same time, part of him was perhaps a little afraid that Michael's essence would change him. If that was the case, he feared that it could possibly be worse than not having a soul.

He shook off those fears though and opened his eyes, reaching for a cup and going to fill it with milk. He didn't feel…bad. He didn't feel _nothing_ either, so he figured that at least was a good thing.

And Michael was dead. That was _definitely_ a good thing.

He heated the milk in the microwave and made himself a cup of hot cocoa. He sat at the table in the kitchen and held the mug until it reached the proper temperature for drinking, wrapping his hands around it and simply enjoying the warmth, feeling it seep into him.

He really hoped things could go back to what they had been before. Before the apocalypse world, before Michael came back and took over Dean's body.

Before Jack had died.

Jack took a sip of cocoa, closing his eyes again as he tried not to think of that. How it felt to lay there, knowing what was coming. He had been scared but it had been worse seeing the grief in Sam, Dean, and Castiel's eyes, knowing how much it would hurt them when he was gone. How it felt to wake up, remembering nothing and everything at the same time.

How it felt to watch Cas give himself for Jack when the Empty had come for him. And, possibly even worse, the realization that it _wouldn't_ take Cas instantly but would come for him when he was least suspecting.

_When you finally give yourself permission to be happy,_ it had said.

Jack wanted to be sick at the thought. The cocoa turned to ash in his mouth and he put it down carefully on the table.

"Jack?"

He startled and looked up to see Castiel standing in the doorway to the kitchen. The angel came in, crossing to the table, a sympathetic furrow between his brows.

"Can't sleep?"

Jack took a deep breath and shook his head. "No. It's…I don't really know how to adjust to having grace again."

"I understand," Cas said, nodding as he took a seat on the other side of the table. He smelled slightly of smoke and Jack knew he must have been out tending the pyre for the dead hunters all night. "When I regained my powers after being human, it took me a while to adjust as well. You'll get used to it again soon."

Jack looked down into his cocoa but didn't answer. He knew he would but, in a way, he wasn't sure how he felt about having his powers back. He'd wanted them back originally, he'd continued to search for a way to return them, but taking Michael's grace, destroying him like he had…that had all been a split-second decision that Jack didn't necessarily wish he could take back, but maybe wished he had thought about a little more. He still didn't know how much of his soul he had burned off doing so, though he didn't feel as if it were all gone. But that didn't erase the fear, the uncertainty he had seen on Cas and the Winchesters' faces after the deed was done. He could tell in that split second, that they weren't sure what Jack would do next and, while it had likely been a fair assumption, it still hurt.

He finally looked back up at Castiel who had been watching him this whole time. "Dean really is okay?" he asked. "Michael said if he left Dean would be mentally injured."

Cas shook his head. "Dean is a true vessel, they are made to endure the angel they carry." He touched his chest. "My own vessel has lasted this long because of that. Dean is fine, Jack. He just needs some rest. We all do."

Jack bit his lip. Cas leaned across the table, hands clasped in front of him.

"Are _you_ okay, Jack?" he asked finally.

Jack glanced up at him, feeling just slightly uncomfortable. "I'm still me, Cas," he said firmly. "I promise."

Cas sighed. "Jack that's…that's not what I meant. I don't think Michael's grace will make you…bad…or anything. It's just power. If anything it will help you. But we've all been through a lot, and I know this might take a bit for you to adjust, so if you want to talk, or if you have any questions, I'm here."

Jack looked into the angel's earnest blue eyes and felt a lump form in his throat. Even after everything, Cas still believed he was good. And really, Jack didn't have anything to contest that fact. But still, everything that had happened… he'd scared himself with the power he had used to kill Michael. He was glad the archangel was dead, yes, but it hadn't been without heavy cost.

"The hunters," Jack said softly, remembering their screams; unable to do anything against Michael's power. First some of them had been killed in the monster attack in the bunker, and now most of the remainder had been killed by Michael. Both times Jack had managed to kill the threat but always too late. He'd worked with these hunters, they'd been his friends. Maggie had been a good friend of his and she was well on her way to being a good lieutenant to Sam, naturally good at organizing. And she'd died right in front of them.

"We promised them safety here," he bit out. "And all they've done is die. Maybe more than if they were still in their own world."

"Jack," Cas reached out and put a hand over his wrist, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You can't blame yourself for that. They knew the risks, same as us. And all of this is a result of what Lucifer did, not you. Michael only got here because of Lucifer. It's not your fault, and it's not the Winchesters' fault." He rolled his eyes slightly. "I've been trying to convince Sam of that all day."

"But they still died under our watch."

"I know how hard that is. Losing people under your command, people you were supposed to protect. But they weren't civilians, they knew the risks of this life, Jack. They just weren't strong enough this time."

Jack looked back down at his cup of now cold cocoa and didn't know what to say. He knew Cas was right, but there was so much inside of him right now. So much turmoil. It would take a while to work through it all.

Cas stood and took the cup from him. "Let me heat this up. I think I'll have some as well."

Jack watched the angel reheat the cocoa, then make himself a cup before he reached into the cupboard for Jack's favorite chocolate chip cookie cereal.

He put it on the table between them and reached for some. "I've heard that cookies and milk are good. Perhaps they also go with cocoa? Things might taste a little different with your powers back, but I think you can still enjoy them." He took a handful and put them on the table beside his cup before he took one and cautiously dipped it in the cocoa to Jack's surprise. Cas seemed to contemplate as he chewed and then smiled across the table at Jack.

"I believe you'll enjoy it."

Jack couldn't help smiling back and did the same. The cookie cereal did taste a little different, but not bad. And, as it turned out, it was excellent in cocoa, though Jack thought Sam would probably have a conniption if he saw them eating it like that.

They sat there in companionable silence for a long time until the cocoa was gone and Jack felt its warmth in his belly soothing him, making him feel a little less tumultuous than before.

Castiel stood up and set their mugs in the sink. "I think you should try to sleep. There's still a few hours left until dawn." He turned back around and rested his hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing. "Things will get better now, Jack. I believe that. Once we recover from this, I think things might actually be normal, a normal we haven't had in….oh years." He sounded weary but also relieved and Jack watched as there was a smile that almost looked genuinely happy on Castiel's face. Instead of putting Jack at ease, something clenched in his stomach. The Empty's words echoed in his head again.

_When you finally give yourself permission to be happy._

Maybe this normality wasn't such a good thing after all.

"Jack? Are you okay?"

He swallowed and looked up at Cas, forcing a small smile onto his face. "I'm fine. And I think I am going to go try and get some rest." He stood up and hurried to the dormitory wing before he could betray himself.

Michael may be gone, but their problems weren't over. Jack was determined to find a way to save Cas, or die trying.

Ironically, that seemed like it might be the only solution.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam started awake as something hit his foot. He jerked, breath catching in his throat but as he looked down, he saw it was just the book he had been reading. It had slid off of his lap while he dozed off in the chair by Dean's bed. He glanced over at his brother, but Dean was still fast asleep, not having been disturbed at all by the falling book.

Sam rubbed his eyes and reached for the book, putting it on the side table. He glanced at the clock and saw it was past eight in the morning. Well, he'd gotten a few hours at least.

His back protested as he got out of the chair and stretched. He turned as there was a soft knock on the door and Cas slipped inside, glancing at the bed.

"How is he?" he asked.

Sam nodded to his brother. "Still sleeping. Finally without nightmares, I think." He was surprised he'd been able to snatch a few hours nightmare free himself. Every time he closed his eyes, he seemed to only be able to see the dead hunters, Maggie…

He squeezed his eyes shut even now, and when he turned back to Cas the angel was giving him a knowing look, but thankfully didn't say anything.

"I came to finish healing Dean," he said.

Sam nodded, but studied the angel cautiously. "You sure you're up to it?"

Cas nodded. "I'm sufficiently recovered." He crossed to the bed and gently set two fingers against Dean's forehead. A soft glow emanated from his touch and the scabbed cut on Dean's forehead and the last of the lines smoothed from the hunter's face, as his body seemed to relax more heavily into the bed. Dean let out a soft groan and turned onto his side, burying his face in the pillow, but didn't wake up.

"We should leave him to rest for as long as he can," Cas told Sam and the hunter agreed, just glad his brother actually _was_ resting. He'd hardly slept more than two hours together ever since he'd locked Michael in his head. He followed Cas out into the hall and closed the door quietly behind him.

"Sam, you should try to get some more sleep as well," Cas told him. "Dean will be fine and Jack and I are here if he needs anything."

Sam heaved a weary sigh and ran a hand over his face. "I know, that's…not why I can't." He smiled wryly and Cas gave him a knowing look. "What I need is a good breakfast and some coffee." He clapped the angel on the shoulder and headed off to the kitchen.

He started the coffee and made an omelet with multigrain toast and sat down at the table to eat it. Cas got a cup of coffee for himself and sat down across from him.

"Where's Jack?" Sam asked after a couple bites of food. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he had started eating.

"In his room, hopefully resting," Cas said, then gave a small sigh.

Sam frowned as he caught a familiar look in Cas' eye. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Cas said quickly, then shrugged. "At least I'm sure there isn't. You don't have to worry about Jack being… affected by what he did, anyway."

"So he didn't burn off all his soul killing Michael?" Sam asked.

Cas shook his head. "He's too…burdened for that. You of all people should know. And it may not even affect him in the same way. He's part angel. I never had a soul, after all. Even if it turns out to be the worst-case scenario, I firmly believe Jack could learn the way I did to feel things. After all, he did not have my upbringing."

Sam felt a stab of sympathy for Cas. John Winchester's militaristic attitude had been bad enough, he couldn't imagine what it had been like for Cas serving in heaven, especially under angels like Zachariah and Naomi. But he hadn't taken much coaxing to learn to have a mind of his own, and Jack had taken none to understand what was right and wrong. Sam also had faith that Jack would be fine.

"Then what's wrong?" he asked.

Cas looked up at the ceiling contemplatively. "I don't know. I suppose I'm worried about him harnessing this power. I don't want to make the same mistakes as last time. I want to help him learn how to use it. So he doesn't fear it and what he can do. If he learns to control it properly he should never be afraid to use it or risk hurting anyone in the vicinity."

Sam nodded. "I agree. And I think we may actually have the time to do that now. I mean, we'll probably have to clean up what's left of Michael's monsters, but when that's over, it's back to…well…normal I guess."

"No apocalypses to avert," Cas said with the trace of a wry smile. "I'm not sure I even know what that's like."

Sam gave a small huff of laughter. "Yeah, I don't think I do anymore either." He finished his breakfast and then sobered, realizing he had been avoiding the topic he needed to ask. "Cas…the—the pyre…"

"I took care of everything," the angel said softly. "They have all been laid to rest."

Sam took a shuddering breath, forcing the lump to stop forming in his throat. "Okay. Thank you, Cas."

The angel nodded and then Sam took another deep breath, this one more steadying, as he stood up. "I want to go see."

Cas nodded, and then silently led Sam out of the bunker. Sam grabbed a bottle of whisky on his way out and followed the angel into the woods behind the bunker. Cas had taken the hunters' ashes and buried them in a single grave, using a large rock as a marker.

Sam skirted the freshly turned ground to cross to the rock and set his hand on it.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I truly hope you have all finally found a better place."

He slowly opened the bottle and poured some of the liquor over the stone, before he took a long draft of it, willing the fiery whisky to dry the tears from his eyes. He handed the bottle to Cas who also took a long draft.

"I know what it feels like, to lose those under you command," Cas told him quietly after a long moment. "It feels like you failed them, but that's not really true."

Sam glanced over at him, fighting back the wetness in his eyes, the pain that was currently squeezing his chest to keep him from breathing properly. Cas stared at the grave, hands in the pockets of his coat.

"Every one of these people was willing to follow you to the death," Cas told him. "And they knew death was a very likely possibility, they knew it even after they left their own universe. A commander is responsible for his men, yes, but a soldier's life is also their own, and if they see a cause they are willing to die for, then that is their choice and it's no one's fault if they fall in battle."

Sam finally felt a tear slip from the corner of his eye and slide down his cheek. He took a shuddering breath and clenched his fists. "Logically, I know that. But still…these were people who came here for protection, who trusted us to give them a better chance when we convinced them to come here. And then they chose to follow me, and they all died anyway. So, maybe it's not my fault directly, but I still feel responsible." He ran a hand over his face as he gestured back toward the bunker. "Honestly, I can't even stand to be here right now. It took us hours to scrub the blood off the floors and every time I close my eyes…" He shook his head. "I just hate that it had to happen this way."

Cas reached out and clutched his shoulder and Sam sagged slightly. "Those who command must always carry this heavy burden. I still remember the brothers and sisters I lost to Hell's forces. It doesn't get easier but if you think of all the lives saved for their sacrifice, that at least gives some purpose."

Sam sniffed, dashing away another tear as he finally nodded jerkily. "You're right."

Cas squeezed his shoulder again and then they stood there, shoulder to shoulder, silent sentinels in memoriam as a light rain began to fall onto the fresh grave.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack lay curled in his bed_ , eyes closed, but didn't really sleep. He wasn't really sure how much sleep he would be getting anymore. But perhaps that wasn't a bad thing.

Finally he saw no more point in trying to sleep and sat up and slipped out of bed, getting dressed for the day. If he couldn't sleep, he may as well do something worthwhile.

Like try and find a way to save Cas.

He left the dormitory wing, hearing Dean's soft snores behind the elder Winchester's door. At least it sounded like he was getting some sleep. Sam and Cas were nowhere to be found so Jack went into the library and set to work.

He looked through the card catalogue and tried to find anything about death, the afterlife, opening other worlds, summoning cosmic beings…anything he could think of that might have some answer for him. Between all of those subjects, there had to be a crossing point somewhere that was exactly what he needed.

He pulled out an armload of books and let them fall with a thump on top of the table. He took a deep breath and sat down, pulling the one from the top of the stack.

May as well start somewhere.

_~~~~~~~_

_Dean peeled his eyes open groggily_ , blinking the blurriness of sleep away as he licked his lips. He groaned, shifting slightly and rubbing drool from his cheek. Damn, he must have slept heavily.

He sat up carefully, but his head didn't ache, nor did the rest of his body, in fact he felt really good. And surprisingly well rested.

He climbed out of bed and went over to his sink, splashing water over his face. He glanced in the mirror and saw that the scar on his forehead was gone. Cas must have finished healing him while he slept.

There was a couple days' worth of scruff on his chin but he decided to leave it. Maybe he'd grow a beard this time. Sam couldn't be the one to have all the fun.

The headache from his concussion was replaced by the more familiar nagging that told him he was craving caffeine. Considering it had been over twenty-four hours since his last cup of coffee, he decided to make that a first priority. He could shower later.

He made his way to the kitchen and stopped by the library on his way, catching sight of Jack sitting at the table with a stack of books. He frowned, hoping they didn't have a new case already.

"Little light reading?" he asked.

Jack looked up, seeming startled, but there was some relief on his face at the sight of Dean. "You're awake!"

Dean snorted. "Yeah, kinda. Need coffee. Get you some?"

"Oh, sure, thank you," Jack said and went back to reading.

Dean rolled his eyes slightly and continued on his quest for the elixir of life. He stumbled through setting the pot up and stood back and enjoyed the heavenly aroma that wafted through the room as the pot burbled.

He threw some toast on and sat down with that and his cup of java taking the first moment of indulgence that he had in…hell, _weeks_. He almost didn't know what to do with himself.

He heard the front door creak open and the sound of two sets of footsteps on the stairs. It wasn't long before Sam and Cas came into the kitchen and spotted him.

"Hey, you're awake," Sam said with an attempt at a smile. It was genuine, even if it didn't reach his eyes. Dean felt a pang in his chest for his brother. He'd taken the deaths of the hunters hard. He hoped he would forgive himself for it sooner rather than later. At least enough to get some decent rest.

"Yeah, well, can't sleep all day, can I?" He flicked his eyes over his brother's slumped shoulders and dark eyes. "You sleep at all last night?"

"Little," Sam said.

Dean glanced at Cas and saw the angel's lips pressed together tightly in admonishment, telling Dean everything he needed to know. "You know dozing off in a chair by my bed isn't sleep, right?"

Sam huffed and went for a cup of coffee. "I'll rest this afternoon."

Dean grunted and took another long draw of his coffee as Sam sat across from him. "You doing okay?" he asked his brother sincerely.

Sam exhaled slowly, hands wrapped around his cup before he looked up at Dean with another attempt at a smile that looked even more like a grimace than the last. "I'm…getting better. Seriously." He glanced over at Cas and shared a look of understanding and perhaps a little gratitude with the angel. Dean nodded to himself. Good, maybe Cas had been able to talk some sense into Sam even if he couldn't.

"And how are you, Dean?" Cas asked as he sat down next to Sam.

Dean shrugged. "Better. You gave me the okay, didn't you?"

Cas gave him a wry look. "Yes, I believe you're fine _physically,_ especially after I completed your healing, but everything else—"

"Look, just knowing that son of a bitch is dead is good enough for me," Dean said simply. "And yeah, I'll have nightmares for a while, but Michael's gone. For real. And it looks like things might actually go back to normal, so…" He picked up his coffee cup and tried out a smile. "I say we take this opportunity to start fresh. But after a couple days of rest. What d'ya say?"

Cas smiled and nodded. "I think that would be good for all of us. I want to start helping Jack train with his new powers."

Sam nodded. "I could use some time off as well."

"Damn right," Dean said. "You're going to bed after this too."

Sam huffed, but nodded in agreement. "Okay. I'll try to get some rest."

Dean finished his breakfast and then Sam excused himself, hopefully to get the rest he seriously needed. Dean got up too, planning on going to get a shower before he took some much needed downtime in his Dean Cave, but he turned to Cas before he left.

"You think Sam will be all right?" he asked softly.

Cas stared past his shoulder toward the doorway Sam had disappeared through. "I think so. He feels the burden of guilt over the hunters, but now that they're at peace, I hope he can start to forgive himself."

Dean nodded. "Maybe we all can," he said more to himself than the angel. He turned back to Cas though and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Right now though, I'm going to sit and veg. You wanna join me for some Netflix binging?"

Cas gave a longsuffering sigh, but allowed Dean to push him toward the door. "Very well. As long as we're not just going to sit and watch westerns again."

"Okay, I made you watch the classics, you don't have to keep bitching about it."

"They're all the same, Dean."

"How dare you? Okay, you know what, just for that, I'm gonna make you watch another one."

The bickering echoed off the halls of the bunker and seemed to raise some of the darkness that had descended with the deaths of the hunters and the turmoil among the Winchesters and their family. For the first time in a long time, Dean actually found himself smiling without forcing himself to. Maybe things were looking up after all.

_~~~~~~~_

_The next couple days passed lazily._ There were still nightmares, and dark moments, but for the most part, everyone had seemed to find a certain peace.

Except Jack. The more he saw the relaxation come over the Winchesters' and Castiel's faces, the more he worried. He couldn't help but think he had only days, maybe hours before Cas found himself truly content. And then the Empty would come for him.

So he continued to research, staying to himself mostly. He tried to spend some time with the others, in case they got suspicious, but begged weariness for the most part. He saw the somewhat worried looks that were cast his way, but he didn't have time to worry about them. He had a mission and he was going to complete it.

He had moved to the archive room where he could study without anyone poking through his reading material. He was currently looking into objects or spells that could prevent doors to other places opening, or keep individuals safe from otherworldly beings. Deep in the archives, he'd tracked down a folder with copies from the only known copy of the Necronomicon. He was so absorbed with looking at the sigils and the rituals detailed there that he didn't notice the door opening until it was too late.

"Jack? There you are; what are you doing in here?"

Jack looked up at Cas, trying to keep himself from looking guilty. "Just…looking at a few things."

Cas frowned and came over to him. "I was just wondering if you may like to start training with me…" He trailed off as Jack hastily tried to cover the pages with another book, trying to look nonchalant by doing so. "Jack, what are you doing?"

"I…I'm just looking into some things about archangels…trying to find anything that might help me figure out my current situation," Jack said haltingly.

Castiel obviously saw through the lie and leaned over the table, plucking one of the books up and looking under it at the pages from the Necronomicon. He picked them up as Jack watched with a sinking heart and the angel's eyes blew wide. "Jack…this is a very dangerous book! What are you…" He looked down and picked up several other books, reading the spines, obviously coming to his own conclusion. "Jack…" he said sadly, a deep sigh in his voice.

"It's like you've forgotten," Jack bit out, snagging the pages from Cas. "But I haven't. I've had this inside me for so long. You gave yourself for me!"

"Yes, and I still don't regret that!" Cas said firmly. "Jack, I love you! Do you think I could have stood there and let that horrible creature take you?"

"I love you too, you know!" Jack shouted back, standing up from the table so violently the chair skidded back with a shriek. "So why am I not allowed to try and find a way to help you?"

"Because it's too dangerous!" Cas snapped. "Jack, if you try to tamper with this…the Empty will take you and, trust me, you do not want to be there, it's…" he trailed off, gazing skyward before closing his eyes. "Just…please, Jack. Leave this alone."

"I can't!" Jack shouted, slamming his hands down on the table. "Everyone is just glad Michael is gone, like everything is fine, but all I can think about is losing you! You never even told the Winchesters! What are they going to think when that thing comes for you out of the blue?"

"They don't need to know," Castiel bit out. "And you will do well to forget it too, Jack. Please, for me."

"I'm _doing this_ for you!" Jack shouted, fists clenching. He felt his powers swelling inside of him, but tamped them down. "If you don't tell them I will! And then we'll all find a way to save you. I've been looking—there are spells, protections, things that we can do to keep you safe, at least until we can find something more permanent."

"Yes and all of these come with a price," Castiel snapped. "Everything like this always does, and I will not let you make the same mistakes I did. I will not let you die in my stead. That's what I kept this from Sam and Dean, because the first thing they'd do is throw themselves into the fire and I will not watch them do that again."

"We're family!" Jack forced out. "That's what we do!"

"Yes, and if I don't have much time left, I certainly don't want to spend it watching my family die!" Cas shouted.

Jack caught movement out of the corner of his eye and both he and Cas spun toward the door where Sam and Dean stood.

Dean's arms were folded over his chest and Jack saw Castiel slump in resignation.

"Something you wanna tell us?"


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't believe it. I don't friggen' _believe_ it!"

Castiel closed his eyes briefly as Dean slammed his fist down on the table, making the books and the lamp jump.

"Dean…" he tried.

"No," Dean spun around on him, finger raised. "You don't get to defend yourself here. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was saving Jack's life!" Castiel replied, raising his voice. "And don't pretend you wouldn't have done the same in my position."

"That's not the point," Dean growled. "My point is _secrets_. I thought we were over this crap!"

Castiel sighed and ran a hand over his face. He caught sight of Jack cowering slightly to one side and hated that this had to happen this way, but he supposed it was his fault all along for thinking he could keep this secret. "There wasn't time, Dean. Michael was out there, we had other things to worry about."

"Other things to worry about than saving your life?" Dean demanded.

"I'm not dead or dying!" Castiel ground out.

"Not yet, but you will be!" Dean shouted back. "We still put a hold on everything when Jack was sick, why do you think it would be any different for you?"

"I didn't, that's why I didn't tell you," Castiel tried to reason with him. "And this…this deal…it was the only option I had at the time. There was no other way I was going to get Jack's soul out of Heaven."

"No, because if a rout doesn't involve self-sacrifice, you're not into it," Dean snorted.

"You're one to talk," Castiel retorted.

"Please," Jack said quietly. "I don't want you to fight. It's all my fault anyway."

"Jack, no," Castiel cut in hurriedly.

"Jack, this isn't your fault," Sam said, more reasonable than his brother. "Look, we understand why you kept it from us, Cas—"

"Do we?" Dean cut in, looking incredulously at his brother.

Sam shot him a look, jaw clenching. "My point is, Michael's not our problem anymore. We can work on fixing _this_ now."

"If Cas even wants to be saved," Dean bit out, turning back toward the angel. "Do you?"

"Dean…" Sam chided.

Castiel glanced between them then turned aside, unable to face them for the moment as his emotions roiled inside of him. Dean had it wrong—he wasn't suicidal like he might once have been, but the risk…

"Well?" Dean demanded. "Do you, Cas?"

"Dean…" he said softly, carefully. "You of all people should understand." After all, Dean had gone to Hell for his brother. He hadn't broken that deal because if he had Sam would have taken his place. There was nothing different about this.

"Understand what? What is there to understand?" Dean demanded. "You're gonna get dragged off to the Empty, we're gonna save you, end of story! You're not going back to that place, Cas. Not again!"

"Dean, if I don't, the Empty will take Jack! Would you give him up for me? Do you labor under the delusion that I would _ever_ forgive you if you did?!"

"Stop!" Jack shouted and all the books on the table suddenly flew to the ground with a loud thump and flutter of pages.

Castiel and the Winchesters all turned to look at him and Jack stood with his hands clenched into fists.

"Stop fighting!" he demanded. "Shouldn't I get a say in this too?"

"No," Dean told him in no uncertain terms. "We'll find some way to fix this where everyone gets out alive."

"And if we can't?" Jack demanded.

"Then we'll figure it out!" Dean shouted, making Jack start.

Jack clenched his fists and looked to be in a world of turmoil. "I wish I'd never kept this a secret," he said then spun around and stormed out the door.

"Jack," Castiel tried but Jack refused to hear him.

"Let him cool off," Sam said quietly, holding up a hand to keep Castiel from following.

Dean ran a hand over his face, looking exhausted. Castiel felt a pang of regret. He had tried to put this whole thing out of his head. He should have known he wouldn't be able to forget in peace.

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered. "I should have known. I should have _known_ we weren't going to get a pass. On any of this."

"Dean, I'm sorry," Castiel said sincerely. "But it was between me and Jack, and I—"

"I know," Dean said, leaning against the table seeming to deflate a little. "I know why you did it, Cas, I just wish I didn't have to find out like this."

"I wish you didn't either." He looked between the brothers. "But I don't regret my decision."

Sam tried a small smile. "We know, Cas. And we will find a way to break the deal. As long as that's what you want."

"Sam—" Dean cut in warningly.

"No, Sam is justified in his question," Cas said then looked directly at Dean. "I do not want to die, if that's what you're worried about, Dean. I'm not suicidal. But if there's no other way, and it's between me and Jack…"

"Then you'll choose Jack," Sam said for him, nodding slowly in understanding.

Castiel nodded back. "This last year…I've experienced something I never thought I would: fatherhood. We have sacrificed for each other so many times in the past, died for each other. Family, brotherhood, is a beautiful thing to die for. But the unconditional love between a parent and a child…" His eyes became damp and he had to blink, pausing to swallow down the sudden lump in his throat. "You are my brothers in all but blood, and I would die for you more times than I could count. I have. But with Jack… there was no question in my mind, no hesitation. My life meant nothing if his was in danger."

He looked up at them and saw Sam blinking back tears as well, nodding. Dean too, swallowed hard and finally gave a reluctant yet heartfelt nod.

"I get it, Cas," he said gruffly. "Trust me. But losing you—and because of him…you can't put that on him either, man."

"I know," Castiel said softly. "Despite everything, Jack is still just an innocent. I don't want to cause him pain, and yet, that seems to be all I've done."

"That's parenting," Sam said with a smile, reaching out to squeeze Castiel's shoulder. "But you know that we'll find something. We always do."

Castiel took a breath and nodded. "Yes. We do. But promise me that it will not come at the price of your own sacrifice."

Dean huffed a breath and took a step forward. "No. No more of that. We're a family and we're going to keep it that way. No more damn sacrificing ourselves, even for the greater good. We need to break this habit right here and now."

Sam gave a jerky nod. "Agreed."

Castiel nodded as well. "Agreed."

"Now," Dean said and bent to pick up several of the books Jack had been looking through. "Let's see if we can find anything in this mess."

_~~~~~~~~~_

_Jack stood outside the bunker_ , hugging his arms to himself as he felt the cold breeze blow past him. Thankfully, he didn't feel the cold like he did when he was human, because it would have been frigid. It smelled like snow, actually. But nothing could be as cold as he was inside, and that had nothing to do with the amount of his soul that he may or may not have burned off.

Everything had been good—they'd all started to settle down again…and then he'd had to bring Castiel's secret into the light, ruining everything.

Dean had been right to be mad, but Jack couldn't help but feel the elder Winchester's anger should have been directed at him, not Cas. After all, he had been the one who had failed to tell the Winchesters after Cas had made the deal. He'd kept Cas' secret, yes, but at what cost? Now it was tearing their family apart, just when they had finally all gotten back together again.

He glanced back toward the bunker entrance, but couldn't stand to go back in and listen to the fighting. He would go to town, grab some of the groceries that Dean had planned to get the next day. Do something useful. Maybe by the time he got back they would all be calmed down. He would let Sam and Cas talk to Dean. He knew the elder Winchester was just worried, and hadn't Jack just shouted at Cas as well for the same reason? It wasn't like he didn't know about keeping secrets to keep his family from worrying. He had failed to tell them that he'd still coughed up blood if he didn't maintain his body with his magic, only burning off more of his soul. He couldn't really blame Cas for keeping his deal a secret.

But he also couldn't imagine the Winchester's horror if Cas was suddenly taken from them out of the blue with no warning. How guilty they would feel if they _could_ have looked for a way to save him instead of not even knowing there was a sword hanging over Castiel's head to begin with.

And all because of Jack.

Whether he could be blamed for keeping the deal a secret or not, it was undeniable that the whole thing was his fault. His fault for letting Cas make that deal in the first place. Maybe he should have just stayed dead.

He spread his wings and flew into town, landing right outside the grocery store. He sighed and went inside, grabbing a basket and a few things that he knew they were short on. He even got pie, though he didn't think it would make much difference to Dean at the moment. A paltry peace offering, but maybe the gesture would help a little.

It was getting dark as he went up to the checkout, and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He almost didn't look at it, but there was no need to worry the Winchesters further so he pulled his phone out and saw a text from Sam, asking where he was.

Jack sighed, but texted back: _In town. Supply run. Be back soon._

He paid for his groceries as the cashier bagged his purchases and then he picked up the bags and went out into the overcast, frigid twilight in Lebanon.

He decided he would walk home, still not quite ready to get back to the bunker so quickly, and set off down the sidewalk as the streetlights started to come on, leaving pools of light on the path.

Jack was taking a shortcut through an alley when he heard a footstep behind him and a voice suddenly spoke.

"Hey."

Jack spun around, chills instantly running down his spine as he saw a familiar face. He took a step backward before he remembered that Lucifer was dead. This was only his vessel, Nick.

"What do you want?" he demanded, then frowned as something occurred to him. "I thought Sam said you were in jail?"

Nick gave a small smile and shrugged. "Eh, was supposed to be. But…I got away. I had unfinished business. And now that I found you, I might finally be able to finish it."

Jack took another step back. "What does that mean?"

Nick grinned. "Oh, you'll see, son. You'll see."

_~~~~~~~~_

_Dean grabbed a beer_ from the fridge and took a long pull of it. Just when he thought things were starting to look up…He should have known better.

Sam and Cas were talking in the library, already looking through the archives to see what they could find. Dean felt sick. Damn Cas and his self-sacrificing habits. He didn't blame him, not really, but he would have liked a heads up. When the hell was the angel planning on mentioning it anyway? When the Empty came for him? Then what did he expect them to do, just let him go quietly? No chance in hell.

And, worse, he'd roped Jack into the secret too. As if the kid didn't already have enough to worry about.

But it was behind them now, and they still had time to figure out some way to stop the deal from coming to fruition. Until then, Dean planned not to let any of his family out of his sight. They didn't need anyone else getting into trouble.

Deciding to be courteous, he grabbed beers for Sam and Cas too and went to join them in the library.

"Alright, what do we have so far?" he asked, sitting down and kicking his feet up.

"Well, several references to opening other worlds. They may have ways to seal them too, but we're not really sure what we're looking for," Sam said, sounding helpless. "I guess we'll know it when we see it."

"Great," Dean muttered and grabbed one of the books from the stack.

His phone rang at just that moment and he groaned, grabbing it from his pocket.

"What?" he asked.

"Dean?"

Dean frowned and quickly turned it to speaker, not having expected the voice on the other end. "Donatello?"

"It's me," the prophet said and Sam and Cas perked up with interest at the man's frantic voice. "I think something's going on. I…I wanted to give you a heads-up just in case…"

"Spit it out, Donnie, what is it?" Dean demanded a little harshly, but he really didn't have time for this crap.

"It's Nick—Lucifer's old vessel."

Dean shared a look with Sam and Cas, seeing their worry echo his own.

"What about him, he's in jail," Sam said with no little satisfaction.

"No, he's not," Donatello said. "He was in my house!"

"What?" Dean demanded, standing up. "Is he still there?"

"No…he…I don't remember much. He came in, attacked me; he tied me up, drugged me with something…I blacked out and woke up to him cutting my ropes and smiling. He said, 'thanks for the help' and then he just left."

"Do you remember anything about what happened?" Cas asked, leaning closer to the phone. "Anything at all?"

There was a pause and Donatello took a breath. "I vaguely recall a conversation—like something in the back of my mind while I was unconscious. Like something…speaking through me."

"A prophecy?" Sam asked.

"No, something else…" Donatello sounded haunted. "I woke up feeling… very cold."

Something crossed Sam's face that Dean didn't like. His brother turned pale, swallowing hard and looked at Cas.

"You don't remember anything he said though?" Dean demanded.

"No, sorry. If I do think of something, I'll call, but…I just thought you should know. I was worried he might be headed your way for some reason."

Dean ended the call and started pacing "What the hell is going on? Nick got taken in! He was on his way to jail!"

"I—I don't know," Sam stuttered, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. "I'll call Donna, ask if she knows what happened…"

"Sammy," Dean said. "What's wrong?"

Sam bit his lip and shook his head. "Nothing, it's just…when Donatello said he felt cold…"

"It reminded you of Lucifer," Cas offered grimly, nodding. "I thought the same."

"Wait a second, Lucifer is dead," Dean reminded them firmly, holding up a hand.

"Lucifer's in the Empty," Cas iterated. "And we know that Jack was able to reach me when I was there, wake me up. What if…" he stopped, unable to continue.

"Oh god," Sam said, sinking into a chair. "You don't think…"

"Let's _not_ think that, okay?" Dean snapped. "Not until we know more. God this day just gets better and better." He turned back to Cas. "But is it possible? To get a message through a prophet to the Empty?"

Cas shrugged helplessly. "I don't know…possibly. They are simply conduits to Heaven, I suppose on the proper frequency…"

Dean was pulling out his phone. "Where's Jack? If Nick is out there on the loose, we need to stay low until we know what we're dealing with."

"Dean, if it's Lucifer…" Sam said quietly.

"It's not; don't say that," Dean snapped at his brother. "He is _dead_ , you hear me? And he is _not_ coming back."

Sam nodded shakily and took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Um, Jack texted a couple minutes ago, said he was in town on a supply run. Probably waiting until we stopped arguing."

"Okay, Cas, you and I will go get Jack; Sam, stay here in case he comes back before us. Call Donna and Jody and see what they might know about what happened with Nick." He went to grab his jacket, already dialing Jack's number. It only went to voicemail. He cursed and nodded to Cas as he grabbed his keys. The two of them hurried to the garage and got into the Impala.

"You really don't think Nick can get Lucifer out of there, do you?" Dean asked. "Bring him back?"

Cas shook his head. "I don't know, Dean. Honestly, I don't. When I was…there…Jack woke me, but…it was the Empty itself that sent me back. Even if Nick found a way to wake Lucifer and even communicate with him, I don't think it's possible to just…grab souls from there."

Dean heard the bitterness in Cas' voice and turned to him. "Cas…we're not gonna let you go back to that place, okay?"

Cas swallowed hard and turned to look out the window. "Okay," he replied quietly.

Dean drove into town, gripping the steering wheel. It looked like their vacation was officially cut short before it had even started.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack shook his head_ , glowering at Nick and itching to use his powers against him. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say," he said. "You shouldn't even be here." He turned on his heel and started to walk away, deciding he wasn't going to bother with this. He was just going to fly home and tell the others.

"Hey, hey, don't be like that!" Nick said and grabbed his arm, making Jack freeze. "I just want to talk! I promise, that's all!"

Jack spun around, suddenly furious. "I don't want to talk to you! You've killed people. You tried to kill Mary! She's my friend, and I don't like people who hurt my friends!"

Nick stepped back, setting his hands on his hips. "Okay, so I got a little carried away, but she wouldn't cooperate. I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want answers! It's not my fault people don't give them to me."

"Well, good luck finding your answers," Jack said coldly. "I'm not helping you!"

He turned again and started walking away briskly when Nick grabbed the back of his coat.

"See, don't make me do this the hard way, Jack," Nick told him.

Jack spun around and let his eyes glow. "Careful. I have my powers back."

A familiar engine revved up the street and headlights flashed behind Jack, causing Nick to squint and hold his hand up to shield his eyes.

"Jack!" Castiel called out as doors slammed and footsteps came running.

"Get away from him," Dean snapped, stepping up to Nick with a gun held at the ready.

"Whoa, whoa, I'll come quietly, I promise!" Nick appealed, holding up his hands. "Like I told Jack, I just wanted to talk."

"Fine, then let's talk," Dean said, motioning with his gun toward the car. "Back at the bunker."

Cas grabbed his hands and snapped cuffs around them.

"Aw, come on, is that really necessary?" Nick cajoled. Dean shoved him toward the car.

"In, now!" he ground out.

Cas took Jack's arm, looking him up and down. "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack nodded, realizing for the first time that he was still clutching his groceries, but tight enough to probably have mangled the bread by now. "I'm fine. He didn't touch me."

Cas nodded, though didn't look entirely satisfied. He nodded to the car. "Get in the front, I'll keep an eye on him." The angel glowered at Nick as Dean shoved him into the backseat and then the angel slid in next to the man.

Jack took shotgun and Dean got in soon after, backing up and driving back to the bunker.

Nick grinned from the backseat. "Isn't this fun? The whole band getting back together again."

Cas grunted but Jack felt a tightness in his chest. He had a bad feeling that Nick had plans that none of them were going to like.

He only hoped they could stop them in time, whatever they were.


	4. Chapter 4

They got back to the bunker and Dean and Cas hauled Nick from the back of the Impala as Jack stood by warily.

"Jack, go tell Sam we got him," Dean said, hoping to give Sam a heads up. Honestly, he wasn't sure how his brother would react to seeing this douchebag again, though he had a few guesses. But what Dean did know is that it was no accident that they got Nick. He couldn't help but feel like Nick had ended up exactly where he wanted to be and that made Dean wary as hell. Whatever Lucifer's former meatsuit was up to, Dean was willing to beat it out of him if he had to. In fact, it would be a pleasure.

"Ooh, do I get my old room?" Nick quipped.

"Shut up," Cas said, shoving him in the back to start him on his way into the bunker. "Just walk."

Dean and Cas each grabbed one of his arms and marched him into the bunker, walking him directly toward the dungeon.

Sam and Jack were standing in the hallway when they got there and Dean saw Sam tense the moment Nick came into view.

"Sam," he said low in warning, but his brother was already striding forward, his face twisting with anger.

" _You!"_

Sam lunged, yanking Nick from Dean and Cas' grip to slam him into the wall, growling with unintelligible fury.

"Hey, hey!" Dean said, grabbing his brother and hauling him off of Nick as Cas took hold of their charge again. "Not now. Not yet." He held his arm out to keep Sam back.

"Dean…" Sam said through gritted teeth, shaking his head as he postured to attack Nick again.

Dean pressed a hand into his chest. "I mean it, Sam. Trust me, I want to beat his face in too, but we need to know what he's doing."

Nick smirked, turning around as Cas continued to drag him toward the dungeon. "Don't worry, Sammy. I'm sure you'll get your turn."

"I told you to shut up," Cas snarled, opening the door to the dungeon and shoving the man through.

Dean glanced back at his brother, arm still out, but Sam slapped it away and walked off down the hall, running a hand through his hair, shoulders tight with a thousand pent-up emotions.

Dean huffed and nodded to Jack. "Stay out here."

He turned before the kid could protest too, and went to join Cas.

The angel was busy chaining Nick to the chair, yanking on the restraints to make sure they were secure.

"Hey, gentle!" Nick protested. "Not much for foreplay, are you Castiel?"

Cas yanked the chains even harder, glowering down at the man and shoving him back in his chair for good measure.

Dean stood back, arms folded. "What the hell were you thinking paying Donatello a visit, Nick?"

Nick shrugged, a bemused smirk on his lips. "Don't know what you're talking about, Dean-o."

"Okay," Dean said and nodded to Cas. "You can stew in here for a while. And think about everything I'll do to you when I come back if you don't talk."

"And if that doesn't work," Cas said, stopping at Dean's shoulder and glaring at their captive. "Remember. I can always pull it from your mind myself."

Nick gave a fake shiver, grinning. "Ooh. Don't make promises you can't keep, Cassie."

Cas glowered and he and Dean left the room, slamming and locking the door behind them.

"Is it just me or has he gotten more…Lucifer-ish?" Dean asked, pausing. "Unless he was always such a creepy douchebag."

Cas sighed. "I fear that having Lucifer occupy his vessel for so long left…irreparable damage. A sort of Stockholm syndrome. It's obvious from the murder spree he went on and his…mannerisms."

"We can't let Sam in there," Dean decided.

Cas shook his head. "Agreed."

They went back out to the library where Sam was pacing, and Jack stood with an unreadable expression. They both looked up when Cas and Dean appeared.

"Well?" Sam asked.

Dean held up his hand again. "We're letting him sit for a moment while we talk about what our next move is going to be."

"Our next move?" Sam demanded. "What about _his_ next move, Dean? You saw his face, he wanted to be brought here. He has some sort of plan, and we're part of it. Can't you see that?"

"Of course I can," Dean growled. "And that's why we need to think about this and not go in there swinging."

Sam scoffed. "Oh, come on, and that wasn't what _you_ were going to do?"

"Look, he found Jack in the middle of town, and let us catch him without a fight," Dean said.

"Yeah, and that doesn't make any sense," Sam said. "What kind of game is he playing?"

"I don't know, if you ask me, that psycho has seen too many 90's serial killer movies," Dean replied.

"Nick doesn't even know Donatello!" Sam protested.

"Lucifer did," Cas offered darkly. "It doesn't make any sense to me either and it would be helpful if Donatello could remember what happened when Nick had him, but unless I risk going back in his brain again—which I refuse to do—then Nick is the only lead we have."

"Exactly," Sam said darkly. "Which is why we need to know his plans sooner rather than later."

"Well, Nick said he wanted to talk, so let's talk." Dean started out of the room.

"Yeah, let's talk," Sam said darkly, following.

Dean turned and shoved a hand against Sam's chest, stopping him before pointing to the ground. "Hey, no, listen to me. I need you to stay here."

Sam looked at him incredulously. "Why?"

"You are too close to this. The way you are right now, if Nick even looks at you wrong, you're gonna waste him. That can't happen. Not until we know if he's got a bomb somewhere that we're gonna have to defuse."

Sam huffed a humorless laugh, shaking his head. "Dean what he did…"

"Sam, it's not on you," Dean told him firmly. "Just sit back for now, let us figure out what we're dealing with. I'll go warm him up first and we'll see where to go from there."

Sam pressed his lips together but gave a short nod. "Alright, sure. Fine."

"Great." Dean nodded back and went back to the dungeon. He unlocked the door, quietly slipping inside as he took his jacket off, throwing it over the table in one corner of the room.

"Hey," Nick said, smirking up at him.

"Hey," Dean returned then punched him in the face.

"Ow!" Nick cried. "What was that for?"

Dean settled a hand on his shoulder and leaned over, inches from Nick's face. "Talk. Why did you go see Donatello?"

Nick shrugged. Dean hit him again.

"Same question," Dean said, watching Nick shake his head to clear it, blood already flowing freely from his nose. "Why Donatello?"

Nick glanced up at him. "You having fun?"

"Oh yeah," Dean said, stalking around the chair Nick was tied to. "I'm having a riot."

"I get you, Dean," Nick said, looking up at him as Dean came back into his line of sight. "You and me—we're almost like brothers, you know."

Dean raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

"Michael, you, Lucifer, me—we both know what it's like to be hogtied to a nuclear warhead, man."

"Hm," Dean grunted then turned and punched Nick hard in the jaw. "Cut the crap," he said, leaning over as the man groaned. "What are you planning? And don't pretend you aren't up to something. You've been up to something ever since you left the bunker the first time. So do yourself a favor and spill before I spill something else."

Nick shook his head slowly. "You're never the same after something like that, are ya?" Nick mused. "Being one with one of them? It changes you, makes you more than human."

Dean rolled his eyes and straightened up again resuming his walk around Nick's chair.

"Come on, Dean, admit it. With Michael you were a prince! Now you're just a broken hunter, too stupid to know you've been beat!" He chuckled, seeming overly pleased with himself.

"Beat?" Dean asked. "And what are you beating me at?" Nick was silent. Dean leaned in again. "Come on, Nick," he wheedled. "What's this all about?"

Nick was silent for a beat and then he turned toward Dean. "I want to see my son."

Dean pulled back, not having expected that answer.

"Excuse me?" he demanded.

"My son. Jack," Nick said again more firmly, a flicker of something dark in his eyes. "I'll only talk to him. Alone"

Dean just stared at him for a long moment then left the room, locking the door behind him. Nick was more cracked than he had given him credit for.

_~~~~~~~_

_Sam watched Dean leave the room_ , shoulders tense, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He wanted nothing more than to shove his fist into Nick's face, but he also knew Dean was right. He was in no condition to keep cool in the presence of Nick right now. Not after everything he'd done after he left the bunker. Sam couldn't help but feel that was all on him.

"Sam," Cas said quietly, walking over to him. "Are you all right?"

Sam ran a hand over his face and sat down on the edge of one of the tables. "Nick was out there, killing people, because of me," He said bitterly. "A police officer is dead because of me. I'm the one that let Nick go, I'm the one…" he looked up as if searching for some answer, but there wasn't one. He just felt guilty and he couldn't explain it. It was just a weight on his chest, another one he would have to learn to live with. He huffed wryly. "What was I thinking?"

"You thought he deserved a chance," Cas said with a sigh. "And I backed you up on it. Even though I saw…" he shook his head, biting his lip. "At the time I wasn't sure. I was worried about Lucifer's influence rubbing off on him, but we were so occupied with finding Dean that I dismissed it. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine, Sam. You can't take all the blame."

"Yeah, well, turns out he didn't deserve a chance after all," Sam said.

"Sam," Cas said more firmly and Sam finally looked up to meet the angel's eyes. "Nick's choices were his. Just his. You didn't know—"

"That's not an excuse," Sam said quietly.

"Maybe not. But you gave him a chance because you felt for him. Because you're a good man." He reached out and gripped Sam's shoulder. "You need to stop beating yourself up about these things, Sam. They're out of your control. And I know well enough that they will consume you if you let them."

Sam blinked hard, trying to fight the tears of helpless frustration that were pricking in his eyes. "What's the point of being a good man, if I can't save good people? Innocent people? It just seems like so many people's lives are on my hands right now, and I…" He swallowed hard and looked up, blinking again. "I don't know how much more I can take."

Cas simply squeezed his shoulder again. "Hey. We'll get through this together."

Sam looked at the angel and flashed a brief smile, but inside he was made of ashes. What if the next person he lost was Cas? The angel was the best friend he had besides his brother. Cas had been one of the only reasons he had been able to keep himself together when Dean was missing. He could survive the guilt of losing the hunters but if they couldn't figure out a way to save Cas…Sam wasn't sure either of them could get through that.

A door opened somewhere further in the bunker, slamming a second later and then footsteps hailed Dean's reappearance. Sam quickly blinked away the wetness from his eyes, taking a deep breath to steady himself as he turned to see his brother.

Jack appeared from the war room and they all looked at Dean.

"Well?" Sam asked.

His brother had a strange look on his face, glancing toward Jack almost apologetically for a second before he cleared his throat.

"He's not talking," he said. "But he did say that he would talk to 'his son'."

They all looked at each other. Sam's eyes narrowed as he fought the unease suddenly roiling in his stomach.

" _His_ son," Cas repeated. "He said that?"

Dean folded his arms over his chest. "He says he wants to talk to Jack. Alone."

"No," Cas said, stepping instinctively over toward Jack as if to protect him from the thought.

"Cas," Jack said, looking over at the angel.

"Absolutely not," Cas told him firmly.

"I'm not afraid of him," Jack replied.

"Look, Nick's cracked," Dean said, shaking his head. "He's freakin' cocoa puffs, okay?"

Jack was silent a moment, then looked up and Sam felt his eyes on him. "Sam?" the nephillim asked, startling him slightly. "What do you think?"

Sam took a deep breath, looking up to meet Jack's eyes. He shook his head slowly. "I mean…"

"I mean?" Dean repeated sharply. "What do you mean, 'you mean'?"

"I _mean_ …" Sam swallowed hard, hating what he was about to say, but also knowing it was probably their only option. "You're right, Nick is cracked, and he's dangerous. Which is why we have to find out what he's planning, and if he'll talk to Jack, then maybe…"

"We can't send the kid in there," Dean said firmly. "We have no idea what that psycho has up his sleeve."

Sam exhaled slowly. "Look, he's chained up securely, down in our bunker—how is he even a threat?"

"He's always a threat," Cas said grimly.

Sam felt the words pierce his chest, knowing the truth in them better than anyone. He clenched his jaw, not really having a reply to that.

It was Jack who stepped forward. "Look, he wants to talk to me, I think I should get to make the decision."

"Hell no," Dean cut in, holding out a hand.

"Hold on," Sam said and stood up. "Jack's right."

"What?" Dean and Cas both demanded at once.

Sam sighed. "Look, we're all here, only down the hall from the room. Jack has his powers so if Nick does slip his chains, Jack won't be helpless. This is the best way this situation could go. And you said it yourself Dean, he's not going to talk to us. We can beat on him all day and he still won't."

Jack gave him a grateful look and glanced between Dean and Cas. "It's the only way. I want to help. I need to," he said. "Nick is planning something bad and we need to figure it out now." He glanced over at Cas. "We don't have time to mess around with him. We have more important things to do."

Cas sighed heavily, but finally nodded. "Okay."

Dean pressed his lips into a thin line of disapproval but also gave a nod in affirmation.

Sam gave Jack a look. "Just don't let him get into your head, okay?"

Jack nodded and then took a deep breath before he strode off, alone, toward the dungeon.

Sam closed his eyes briefly, really hoping he hadn't just made a terrible mistake.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack walked slowly down_ the hallway toward the dungeon. He knew the Winchesters and Cas were right in the library and yet at the same time, he wished they were with him. He wasn't afraid of Nick, not rationally, but there was just something about him. Maybe because he wore his father's face and the last time Jack had seen Lucifer he had been trying to get him and Sam to kill each other. Even when Nick had been recovering in the bunker, he had stayed away as much as possible. He could tell that Nick had made all the other hunters wary too, and he didn't think it was just because he had previously been Lucifer's vessel.

There was just something about him.

Like Dean said, Nick was cracked.

He took a steadying breath before he opened the door and slipped into the room.

Nick was sitting, chained to the chair, and he lifted his head as Jack came in. His face was bloody, likely Dean's work, and he smiled as Jack walked into the room with the demon trap on the floor.

"Hey sonny-boy," Nick said cheerfully.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Jack asked shortly, glowering at the man.

"Wow, you're so tough," Nick chuckled. "That's your pop, you realize."

"My father was a monster," Jack replied darkly.

"Everyone's a monster," Nick said matter-of-factly. "Even your three dads—how many innocent people do you think they've killed?"

"You wanted to talk to me, so talk!" Jack said, his voice raising to ring off the concrete walls.

Nick just stared at him, cocking his head slightly to one side and making Jack feel cold. "He loved you. You know that?" Nick said softly. "He did—I felt it. He loved you so much. And you broke his heart."

Jack clenched his jaw, fighting the shiver that ran down his spine. He knew he shouldn't say anything, shouldn't let Nick get to him. He was obviously lying anyway. Lucifer had never loved him. He'd only wanted his powers.

"Of course, I'm talking about the old you…the one with the soul…"

Jack turned away, started pacing.

"Yeah, Kermit the Prophet told me all about your sitch. What's it like not having a soul? Must be relaxing."

"I have a soul," Jack said firmly, turning to glare at the captive man. "And my father never loved me. He tried to kill me."

Nick sighed. "Can you blame him? I mean you brush him off for the people he hates most and throw everything he gave you in his face?"

"What do you want?!" Jack demanded, swinging back around, fists clenched. He felt his powers rising, wanting to throw Nick into the wall, but he was keeping himself in check.

Nick smirked and started laughing. Jack stepped back, bewildered then angry. He balled his fist.

"Look, I don't have time for you!" he said. "You can rot in here for all I care, I have more important things to see to, people to save." He spun on his heel and was about to storm out when Nick called him back.

"Wait, wait!" he cried. "I'll tell you a secret."

Jack stopped and turned slowly, still glowering. "What?"

Nick jerked his head. "Come here."

Jack clenched his jaw but stepped closer to the man, though not so far that Nick could touch him even if he was out of his cuffs. Nick leaned forward as far as he could, playing confidential.

"Look, you want to know why I went to visit Donatello?"

Jack crossed his arms over his chest, not giving him the satisfaction of asking.

Nick leaned even closer and whispered, "I wanted to talk to your dad."

Jack's blood went cold. He was stepping forward before he knew it and had grabbed Nick's bloody shirt in his hand, shaking him. "What?" he demanded.

Nick smiled up at him, eyes shining. "Lucifer. I contacted him through the prophet. He told me something."

Jack shook him again, heart pounding. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me how to get him out."

Jack dropped him back in the seat and stepped back, staring at the insane man sitting in front of him. His blood rushed through his ears so that he could only hear the pounding of his heart.

"I'm going to bring him back, Jack," Nick said gleefully. "He wants to see you again, I know he will."

"No," Jack said quietly, finally snapping out of his stupor. "No…"

"Yes," Nick hissed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back before he turned back toward Jack and met his gaze, "But I need your help, Jack."

"No," Jack said more firmly.

"Come on, Jack!" Nick wheedled, leaning forward again. "I need your help for the spell to open the gateway to the Empty!"

"You're insane!" Jack snapped. "If you think I'm going to help you do that, you are crazier than I thought!" He spun around on his heel and strode out of the dungeon.

"Jack, wait!" Nick cried but Jack slammed the door and locked it.

Sam, Dean and Cas were waiting in the hallway as he came out and they all looked up as Jack slammed the door, stepping toward him almost protectively when they saw his face.

"Well?" Dean asked. "Did he talk?"

Jack exhaled, shaking his head slowly. "He's like you said—insane. He said…he said he went to Donatello to help him get in contact with Lucifer."

Dean and Cas shared a look and Sam's eyes turned haunted. "What? But he's dead!"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that Nick thinks he can somehow raise him from the Empty." His words caught in his throat then as a sudden, terrible realization dawned.

"Well, we're not gonna let that happen," Dean said firmly. "Nick can stay in there and rot for all I care. As long as he's here, then he's not gonna be able to do anything stupid."

Sam swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. I think we should call Donna, have her transport him to supermax. And make sure he gets there this time."

Cas stepped forward and took Jack by the arm, leading him away from the door. "Don't worry, Jack. We won't let Nick escape this time."

Jack nodded numbly and allowed Cas to pull him away from the dungeon.

The others talked late into the night, but Jack paid little attention to what they were discussing. He was having his own battle inside his head.

After the Winchesters turned in and Cas retired to his own room to research, Jack lay in bed, not sleeping. If Nick knew how to open the Empty then that might be Jack's ticket to figuring out how to save Castiel. The thought of asking Nick for any help at all made his skin crawl, but if it was the only way…

If it was the only way to save Cas then Jack would do anything. Just like they had done to save him when he had died.

Decided, Jack threw the sheets back and opened his door quietly.

He padded down the hallway to the dungeon, hoping he wouldn't alert the Winchesters and Cas to what he was doing. Thankfully the dorm wing was far enough away that they shouldn't hear him open the dungeon.

Nick was still sitting there in the dim light, his head slumped onto his chest as if in sleep but he looked up instantly as Jack came in.

A smile spread over his lips. "Jackie-boy. Change your mind?"

Jack swallowed hard and straightened his shoulders to boost his confidence. "You really know a way to open the Empty?"

Nick cocked his head to one side, curious. "Yes…to raise Lucifer."

"But does it open a door?" Jack demanded, stepping closer to him. "Can you get anyone out with it?"

"I suppose," Nick said frowning. "Why do you ask?"

"None of your business!" Jack snapped.

Nick grinned slowly then and started laughing. "Ah…I see. Let me guess…Someone has gotten themselves into trouble again. Castiel, probably, right?"

Jack clenched his fists and knew his face betrayed the truth, which made Nick grin cruelly, leaning forward.

"Tell you what, Jack. I'll show you how to save your dear adopted daddy, if you help me save your real father."

"Just write down the spell," Jack snarled.

"Yeah, it's not gonna work like that," Nick said, his voice completely cold now. "Either you get me out of here and we go do this my way, or you can sit around and watch Castiel get dragged off to eternal torment in the Empty. What would you rather do?"

Jack was furious, but he already knew his decision. Had known it before he got down here. It was monumentally stupid and the Winchesters and Cas would never forgive him for this, but it would be okay. Because he would save Cas. And that was all that mattered. He'd have Nick show him the spell and then he would take the man down, stop him from resurrecting Lucifer, and use the spell to break Cas' deal.

He gritted his teeth and strode forward, using his powers to break through the chains. Nick brought his arms around, rubbing his wrists as he grinned up at Jack.

"I knew you'd see it my way."

Jack glowered at him. "Go to the garage. I'll meet you there in five minutes."

Jack spun around, trembling, and went to pack his bag.

He really hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake.


	5. Chapter 5

Castiel wasn't sure what first alerted him that something was wrong, but he just had…a feeling. There was an absence, something not accounted for in the bunker.

He frowned, closing the book he had been reading and getting up from the desk in his room to walk down the hall and check on Jack.

The boy wasn't there. The sheets were pulled back like he had gotten up but he wasn't sitting at the desk, up reading. Castiel went to touch the bed but it was cold like Jack hadn't been there for a while.

But he hadn't been sleeping well anyway, and with Nick in the bunker, he was probably having an even harder time of it. He made his way to the kitchen, thinking Jack might have gone for a midnight snack, but the nephillim wasn't there either and there was no sign that he had been.

A pit of unease began to form in Castiel's stomach as he glanced in the library and still saw no sign of Jack. There was really only one more place he could think of that Jack might be and he didn't like that at all.

His footsteps quickened as he made his way toward the dungeon. The door was closed but as he reached for the knob, he found it wasn't locked. Panic began settling in as Castiel opened the door then went to move the shelves of the archive aside to see into the dungeon.

The chair was empty. Nick was gone.

All that was left were the chains that had held him.

Castiel flew back out of the room, frantic.

"Sam, Dean!" he cried as he rushed through the bunker, searching, hoping, that Jack was just in the restroom or something and that he had simply missed him.

But he wasn't. Nick was gone, and so was Jack.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack shifted uncomfortably_ in the passenger seat as he stared out the front of the car. Nick had taken the one Cas usually drove. Cas had left the keys in the library and Jack figured it was better to let Nick take it instead of having him steal something from someone else. He didn't want Nick to hurt anyone else.

This was such a stupid plan. Jack began to have doubts about how he was going to make this work. It was hard to remind himself that Nick wasn't actually Lucifer, and yet he still feared him in the same way even though logically, he knew he was far stronger than the mere human. That unpredictable psychotic nature made him worry about any promise the man made.

"Where are we going?" he finally asked.

"Oh, not far," Nick replied glancing over at him. "I just have to collect the supplies we need for the spell. I have some stuff I stashed nearby. We'll be done before the Winchesters are able to catch up."

Jack swallowed hard and turned to look out the window. It was so cold the glass was fogging and he wrapped his arms around himself, colder on the inside than the outside. He couldn't help but feel that he was betraying them. But…he could only hope that they would understand his motives. They would be angry, yes, but he knew they would understand.

"Don't worry about them," Nick scoffed as if reading Jack's thoughts. "They're not your problem. You have to do things for you."

Jack pressed his lips into a thin line. What Nick didn't seem to understand was that he _wasn't_ doing this for him. "Just drive. I want to get this over with."

"Touchy," Nick muttered but continued on and, thankfully didn't say more.

They pulled in to what looked like an abandoned factory site. Jack had been in a lot of these on hunts—the kinds of places monsters usually liked to hang out. He supposed it was an appropriate place for this then.

Nick parked the truck at a barrier that made it impossible to go further and turned the engine off, opening the door and letting in a rush of cold air. "Let's go, Jack."

Jack stepped out, his shoes crunching in a light dusting of snow as he looked around warily. He still didn't trust Nick entirely, but at this point, he had little choice. He couldn't bail on this venture until he had the information he needed.

Nick led him down to the factory building, walking across a steel catwalk to get inside, their footsteps echoing through the silent, frigid night.

The door shrieked worse than the one in the bunker as Nick opened it and motioned Jack inside.

Jack narrowed his eyes, but went ahead, stepping into the building.

It was dark, but Nick had a flashlight. He led Jack through the main portion of the building toward a room farther in the back. There was a table there, with a duffle bag on it and a camp lantern.

Nick went over to it and turned the lantern on, giving the room some light.

"Now what?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Hold your horses, kiddo, it takes time to set up a spell like this," Nick said, unzipping the bag and rummaging around in it. "I'm still gonna have to gather a couple ingredients."

"Show me the spell," Jack told him, then amended. "I can help you put it together."

Nick chuckled. "Not so fast. You still have your end of the bargain to hold up."

Jack bristled. "Look, I got you out of there when you were probably going to be on your way to jail by now. The spell is my payment, so show me."

Nick huffed. "You do drive a hard bargain—at least you learned _something_ from your adopted dads." He rummaged around the bag until he came up with a sheet of paper with a handwritten spell on it.

"See, it's right here—ah-ah!" Nick pulled it back as Jack reached for it. "You think I'm just gonna give it to you? You could just fly off with it. It stays on the table, but you can look at it."

Jack glowered at him, but honored the man's request for now. He glanced down at the spell, reading it in the lantern light. It actually wasn't all that different from a couple of the ones he had found that were supposed to open portals to other dimensions. In fact the ingredients that were used made up pretty much all the spells he'd seen in the Necronomicon.

"I don't see why you needed my help," Jack said. "This is all rather normal spellwork."

Nick smiled at him. "Not quite. You see, it needs one very special ingredient."

Jack felt a chill go down his spine at the way the man was looking at him. "What?"

"Your blood," Nick told him.

"Most spells need blood…"

But Nick was already shaking his head. "No, you see kiddo, I need _your_ blood so we can make sure we summon your dad out of there specifically. Wouldn't want anything else to come out, would we?"

Jack's breath caught in his throat. "So…you have to make sure you know who you're summoning."

Nick nodded. "Yep. Might be a little hard with Castiel, unless you keep a vial of his blood somewhere."

Jack's heart sank. If that was the case, then how would he ever manage to summon the Empty creature? Unless he used Cas as bait or waited until it came for the angel, but Jack wasn't willing to do that. No. That wasn't an option. This spell wasn't that different from all the others, he was sure he could make it work with a little modification. Rowena had been teaching him some basics, and if he couldn't figure it out from what she had taught him, then he could always take it to her.

Either way, he had the spell now; he really could leave at any time but he couldn't let Nick get away again either. Maybe he should just knock him out and call the Winchesters to come get him.

"So, are we doing this or what?" Jack asked Nick as the man started rummaging in his duffle again. "Can I help you get the stuff you need?"

"Oh, yeah, just, one more thing."

Nick grabbed something from the bag and threw it right at Jack's feet. It exploded in a flash of blinding light that knocked him backwards, stealing his breath. Jack wheezed, flat on his back, and noticed too late the other figures rushing in, slapping cuffs around his wrists and ankles, wrapping chains around his body. Jack struggled, feeling binding sigils dampening his powers, looking up at the demons who stood over him.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "We had a deal!"

Nick chuckled, standing over him. "Look, as much as I want to give you and Pop a reunion, I know you're just going to try something to ruin it. I'm no match for you with all your special powers back, so you'll forgive the precautions. I really only needed your blood anyway."

He took up a jar and a knife from the bag and crouched down next to Jack's struggling form. He grabbed one of his arms and yanked the sleeve of his coat up, exposing a wrist. Jack tried to shake him off but the demons held him down and Nick sliced his wrist open with the knife, holding the jar below it to catch the blood.

"Thanks for this, Jack, your father would be proud," Nick said, capping the jar as Jack seethed at him. "Once Lucifer is back where he belongs—with me—we'll come and have a little family reunion, how does that sound?"

"You'll never do it!" Jack growled, still fighting against the chains. "The Winchesters will find you and stop you!"

Nick grinned. "Maybe that's all part of the plan. See ya, Jack."

"Nick!" Jack cried as Nick picked up his duffle bag and strode for the door.

Jack struggled some more until the demons dragged him to a support column and chained him to it. Jack struggled even more, but there was no use. The chains were all sigiled and too tight. He'd never get out of them by himself.

Despair began to overcome him as he slumped, head hanging. He had made a huge mistake. Nick was going to let Lucifer out again and it was all his fault.

~~~~~~~

" _Son of a bitch!"_

Dean kicked over the chair they'd had Nick tied to with a clatter. Sam had his hands braced on the table at one side of the room, head hanging, and Cas stood off to one side, shifting in agitation.

"How the hell did he get out!" Dean demanded, kicking the chair again for good measure.

"It doesn't matter how he got out," Sam said, straightening up. "What matters is that he's loose again, and he has Jack."

"And, here's the big one, let's not forget the psycho is trying to raise friggin' _Lucifer_. Again!"

Cas groaned and ran his hands over his face. "We were such idiots."

"Yeah, we let him escape and somehow take Jack with him!" Dean quipped.

Cas looked up at him, shaking his head. "No, don't you see? There's no way Nick could have taken Jack out of here by force. Even if Nick had threatened us, Jack would have just used his powers against him."

"What are you saying?" Sam asked.

Cas glanced between then, jaw tight. "I'm saying Nick had a way to open the Empty and get someone out."

Dean realized what he was saying then and ran a hand over his face. "Dammit, you're right."

"But still, it's _Nick_! Jack knows he can't trust him!" Sam protested.

"Come on, man," Dean said wryly. "How many times have we worked with bad people, made stupid deals to save family." He glanced over at Cas and the angel looked wretched. "It didn't take Jack long to learn how to make stupid sacrifices for the people you care about."

Sam took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

Cas sighed. "Yes, and now we need to find them before he makes a huge mistake. Even if Jack left willingly, there's no way Nick doesn't have some trick up his sleeve. We don't even really know how much of a head start they have or where they're going."

Sam held up a hand, already on his way out of the dungeon. "We'll track their phones. I took Nick's off him when we got him, but if he didn't find it and take it with him, Jack should have his."

Dean and Cas followed him into the library where Sam grabbed his laptop and started typing furiously to find the phone signals.

After a few seconds, he groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"What?" Dean demanded.

"Both the phone signals are pointing here. Jack must not have taken his."

"Damn," Dean breathed, starting to pace. "Okay, what now? We just sit here and wait for signs of Lucifer to show up?"

Cas was looking around, reaching into his pockets. "Wait. My truck keys are gone. They must have taken it. I left them on the table here earlier."

"And it's Lo-jacked!" Sam said in triumph as he pulled up another site and started typing again. "Okay, I got it! Looks like they're north of here."

"Okay, let's go!" Dean said and rushed to get his go bag ready. Too many mistakes had already been made in this family in the recent past—he was determined to save Jack from making another one.

They all grabbed their gear and rushed to the Impala. Sam had his tablet which he was using to track Cas' truck and give Dean directions.

They were going for a few minutes before Sam frowned. "Wait…"

"What?" Dean demanded.

"The truck's moving," Sam said. "And it's coming back this way."

Dean frowned and tightened his grip on the wheel. "Tell me where. We'll nab him when we get to his location."

"We'll pass him, he's coming down the same road."

Dean pressed his foot harder into the gas and glanced up at the lightening sky. Almost dawn. Jack and Nick had been gone at least a few hours, and Dean didn't like the idea of the kid being stuck with him that long.

For a moment, he entertained the thought that Jack might have overpowered Nick and was driving the truck back to the bunker, but the way their luck had been going lately, he knew that was probably just wishful thinking. He just hoped they weren't already too late to stop Nick from freeing Lucifer.

"We're close."

Sam was watching the screen but Dean saw the headlights as he made it around a bend in the road.

"There he is," he muttered darkly and pulled the Impala around suddenly, creating a roadblock. He, Sam and Cas all scrambled out, standing in front of the car, guns trained on the oncoming truck.

The truck slowed and came to a complete stop. Dean squinted in the bright headlights and Cas growled beside him.

"Jack isn't in the truck," he said, already stepping forward as Nick's door opened and he climbed out, hands held up.

"Hey guys," he said. "What's up?"

Cas strode toward him and grabbed him by the front of the coat, slamming his back against the truck, angel blade pointed at him. "Where is Jack? What did you do with him?"

Nick smiled, making Dean's skin crawl. "Don't worry, Jack is fine and he'll stay that way. I would never lay a hand on the boy. I just needed him out of the way so he wouldn't stop me."

"Why did you take him in the first place?" Sam demanded.

Nick chuckled, glancing over. "Come on, Sammy. I didn't take Jack anywhere. He came with me, he was the one who let me free. It was easy to convince him—once I told him about my spell to open the Empty. I understand you are in need of that, or will be soon." He looked up at Cas with a cold, calculating smile.

The angel snarled and slammed him back against the truck again. "Tell us where he is!"

"Only if you ask nicely."

"Okay," Dean stepped forward, pulling cuffs from his coat and waiting for Cas to yank Nick around to snap them on his wrists. "You know the drill, Nick. You talk, or I start swinging. So unless you want me to put a bullet in your knee, you'll tell us where Jack is."

Nick sighed, rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll tell you where your boy is, but if you think this will stop anything, you're wrong."

"Maybe not, but a bullet between the eyes will," Dean told him blandly. "Which is what's gonna happen if you continue to piss me off. Get him in the car and show him a map. Maybe that will jog his memory."

Cas grabbed Nick by the shoulder and shoved him toward the Impala. Sam followed and Dean checked over the truck before getting inside and pulling it off the road. They could come back and pick it up later.

When he got back to the Impala, Cas and Sam looked like they were about to tear Nick a new one.

"Sorry guys, I said my memory was a little foggy. It was somewhere in this area."

"Okay, you know what?" Sam said, "I've had just about as much of you as I can take. You are going to tell us where Jack is now, or I'm going to shoot out both your knees."

"Okay, okay, geez, touchy much, Sammy?" Nick said, he looked at the map again and motioned to a spot with his nose since his hands were behind his back. "There. It's in that area, an abandoned warehouse."

"Okay, was that so hard?" Dean demanded, shoving him backwards into the seat, before starting the car and heading back down the road as Sam navigated.

Cas sat in the back with Nick, angel blade across his lap, a dark expression on his face.

"So, no music?" Nick quipped, glancing around, but everyone ignored him. He sighed. "Come on, guys, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well, stop," Cas growled.

"Any chance you can tell me what happens after?" Nick wheedled.

"Nothing good for you," Dean muttered. "This time we'll escort you personally to supermax if we have to."

Cas turned to Nick, staring icily at him. "But if I find out you have hurt a hair on Jack's head, you won't need to worry about supermax. Understand?"

Nick nodded. "Ten-four, papa bear."

Cas rolled his eyes and leaned over the back of the seat. "How much farther?"

"Couple miles," Sam said.

Dean drove steadily until the old warehouse came into view. He pulled up to the gate and turned the car off, eyes scanning the area to look for any sign of a trap.

"That's it, Jack's right in the main part of the building," Nick told them.

"Alright," Dean said and got out of the car, packing his gun and an angel blade. "Cas, you're with me. Sam…" He glanced over to meet his brother's eyes. "You watch him."

Sam nodded firmly. And Dean closed the car door, pulling his jacket tight against the cold early morning chill. He looked over at Cas and nodded to the angel.

"Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

Dean and Cas crunched through the snow toward the abandoned warehouse.

"You think he's telling the truth?" Dean asked. "You think Jack is really here?"

"If he isn't I'll gladly pull the truth from him," Cas said darkly, his angel blade gripped in his hand as they stepped onto a metal staircase, heading up to the catwalk that would lead them inside.

"There's really nothing Nick could have done to the kid you know," Dean said. "Not now that he has his powers again. And if he's trying to get into Lucifer's good graces and all, then hurting Jack probably wouldn't be a good move."

"He's insane, Dean, we have no idea what he's capable of," Cas reminded him.

Dean clenched his jaw, shrugging. "True."

They went along cautiously; Dean didn't exactly trust Nick not to have set some kind of trap. They got to the door of the main building and he pulled out his flashlight, looking around the area, searching for trip wires of any kind.

He didn't see anything though and pushed the door open with a screech of metal. He flashed the light around as Cas entered behind him, holding his blade at the ready.

"Jack?" Dean called.

There was a muffled sound from further in the building and he and Cas shared a look before they hurried toward the direction it had come from.

"Jack?" Cas called as they pushed into another room and finally found the nephillim.

"Jack!" Dean cried as he and Cas hurried forward.

Jack was chained to one of the girders and gagged so he couldn't shout anything distinguishable. His eyes were wide though and he was struggling, looking more frantic than relieved. Cas set about trying to undo the chains and cuffs while Dean reached out to remove the gag.

"Dean, Cas, it's a trap!" Jack said frantically. "There's—"

A door at the back of the room crashed open and several men poured through, eyes flashing black.

"Demons!" Dean shouted in warning as the attackers surged forward.

Dean and Cas stood back to back in front of Jack, fighting off the attackers. There were at least four, and maybe more waiting in the wings. Jack was struggling to free himself to no avail.

A demon tackled Dean from behind and forced him to the ground hard. Dean grunted and rolled over, kicking the demon off of him, slashing with his angel blade and stabbing the demon before scrambling to his feet. Another one surged forward, pushing him back against the wall, grabbing his wrists and forcing his blade around, pressing the tip into Dean's chest.

Dean growled, trying to push the blade away from him, but the demon was much stronger and had the upper hand.

Just when he was sure he would be stabbed, his arms quivering with the strain, the tip of an angel blade appeared through the demon's throat and he fell to the ground, revealing Cas who spun and took out the last demon sneaking up on him with a reverse swing of his blade.

Dean slumped, breathing heavily. "Thanks."

Cas nodded and then they both turned back to Jack.

"Jack, are you okay?" Cas asked as he once again knelt and tried to unlock the chains.

"I'm fine," Jack said sullenly, looking down. "I—I'm sorry."

"We'll talk about it later, kid, right now we just need to get you out of here," Dean told him.

Suddenly, he heard a car horn—the Impala's horn to be precise—he'd know it anywhere. There was the start of an SOS and then just one long blare.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

"Sammy," Dean breathed.

Cas stood up, worry in his eyes.

"Go, I've got Jack."

Dean didn't need a second urging, he pulled his gun from his belt and sprinted out of the warehouse.

_~~~~~~~~_

_Sam watched Dean and Cas_ head toward the warehouse, all the time, far too aware of Nick sitting in the backseat, staring at the back of his head.

"It's nice that we're finally alone," Nick said quietly. "Feel like I never get a chance to talk to you anymore."

Sam closed his eyes briefly, willing his heart to stop pounding. This wasn't Lucifer. It was just Nick. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to stop reminding himself of that.

"Come on, Sam, it'll be awkward if we just sit here in silence," Nick wheedled.

Sam cleared his throat, glancing toward the warehouse again, willing Dean and Cas to hurry up. He didn't want to be left alone with Nick longer than he had to. Not if he wasn't allowed to simply strangle him and be done with it.

Nick sighed, and Sam finally turned around. "You know what, I don't get it," he said. "You finally got rid of Lucifer, why the hell do you want him back so badly?"

Nick's eyes darkened, a deep fury directed at Sam. "You have no idea. It was okay for you to throw away everything he gave you with your righteous little attitude, but he was all I had. Lucifer completed me. I felt so helpless after my wife and son were murdered and he gave me strength."

"Yeah, you know that's the Stockholm syndrome talking, right?" Sam snorted, going back to watching the warehouse.

Nick sneered. "I never understood why he wanted you so badly. It's not like you ever wanted him."

Sam shook his head, not wanting to talk about this anymore. He was sorry he had even brought it up. Nick really was nine kinds of crazy.

He heard Nick shifting in the back and the click of his cuffs as he leaned closer to Sam, making the hunter's skin crawl.

"But now I'm the only one willing to save him from that place. Me. Not Sam Winchester the so-called _perfect_ vessel. _Me_. The one he chose first. And none of you are going to stop me. I won't let you."

Sam didn't get the chance to react before Nick's arms darted around Sam's neck. Sam flailed, reaching for his gun, but Nick heaved and yanked him over the seat into the back of the car.

It was close quarters, but Sam managed to grab the door handle, opening it up. He slid backwards at the same time he kicked Nick in the chest, and managed to break free, tumbling out onto the cold asphalt.

Sam scrambled to his feet. He reached for the gun he'd had in the back of his jeans, but it wasn't there. It must have fallen out in the back of the Impala.

"Come on, Sam, don't be like that!" Nick called as he climbed out of the car, opening his freed hands in appeal.

"I will not let you bring Lucifer back again," Sam growled, searching for an opening where he could get his gun back.

"Come on, Sam, nobody stays dead anymore, you know that!" Nick said, walking forward. "All you need is a little elbow grease, some new friends… Who do you think hid me after I carved up that cop?"

Sam stared at him, holding his ground. Nick stopped a few feet from him, smirking.

"Demons," the man said as Sam's eyes widened. "Yeah, they want Lucifer back almost as much as me."

Sam just shook his head. "You're insane."

Nick shrugged, grinning. "Maybe. But I'm going to win." He swung and Sam barely caught the blow on his forearm before Nick was swinging again. A blow thudded into Sam's ribs and he struck out at Nick's head, landing a heavy blow to his jaw.

Nick went down and Sam was on top of him instantly, landing several more punches to his face before he wrapped his hands around Nick's throat and began to throttle him like he had been wanting to do since Dean and Cas had dragged the man back to the bunker.

Nick gurgled, choking, and reached out to grab at Sam's arm weakly. His eyes started to roll up in his head but Sam still didn't stop. He couldn't stop. Not when Nick wanted to bring Lucifer back. He couldn't let that happen.

And then he realized what he was doing. Despite everything, Sam couldn't kill Nick like this. Not with his bare hands. He'd tie him up again—better this time—and hand him over to Donna. It wasn't worth it to stain his hands with this pathetic creature's blood.

His hands loosened, breathing heavily to get his emotions in check as he still sat there straddling Nick. Nick lolled on the ground, coughing air back into his lungs.

Before Sam could force him onto his face and restrain him again, Nick reached out and grabbed a rock from the road, slamming it violently against Sam's head.

Sam went down like a sack of bricks, holding his head and trying to make sense of up and down.

He felt hands on his shoulders, hauling him upright and he tried to get his feet under him but couldn't manage it before Nick threw him, hard.

Sam crashed against the side of the Impala with a cry, his head ringing as he slumped to the ground. He struggled to haul himself upright, knowing that if he didn't Nick would kill him. If he could get to his gun…

"Lucifer's perfect vessel," Nick sneered, stalking towards him. "Not so perfect now, are ya?" He slammed the rock into Sam's head again, causing a burst of stars behind Sam's eyes and a horrible, debilitating disorientation.

Sam scrambled for some purchase, but Nick had him by the throat now, slamming him back against the car, choking the life out of him. Sam clawed at his hands, but Nick's grip was strong and he had the upper hand.

Determination lent Sam a burst of strength however and he grasped at his slowly failing faculties and slammed his arm into Nick's elbow, collapsing the other man's arm and forcing him to loosen his grip, before Sam slammed his fist into the other man's face, throwing him off completely.

Sam lunged for the open back door of the Impala and climbed inside, slamming and locking the door behind him.

He panted and swayed, dizziness nearly putting him down. His head felt like someone was currently driving a stake through it. He woozily scrambled for his gun, but couldn't find it anywhere.

Nick slammed his hands against the car window, yanking at the door handle. "Come on, Sam. Let's play, baby!" He taunted, then slammed his fists against the glass again as if planning on breaking it with his bare hands. In his seemingly insane state, Sam thought he might actually succeed. "Come on, Sam!"

Sam abandoned his search for the gun and threw himself over the seat, reaching for the steering wheel. He slammed his hand into the horn, trying to tap out an SOS before he simply leaned his palm against it, hoping it would get Dean and Cas' attention.

Nick cursed, seeming to see what he was doing. Sam glanced up and seconds later he could see Dean running from the warehouse.

"Sorry to dash, Sammy, but, ya know," Nick said and ran off down the road.

Sam frantically slammed his hand against the horn again before he reached back, scrambling for the door. He fumbled it open, trying to get out, but he was only able to collapse onto the cold ground.

"Dean!" he cried, watching Nick disappear in the wooded area on the side of the road. He couldn't believe he had lost him again!

But his head was pounding so hard, his vision blurry. He couldn't focus on anything and he couldn't move without a crippling dizziness overtaking him.

"Dean," he called again as footsteps pounded toward him.

_~~~~~~~_

_Dean ran from the warehouse_ and across the space back to the car.

"Dean!" Sam's voice shouted.

Dean looked up but didn't see his brother. He spurred himself on faster and raced around the Impala, finally spotting Sam on the ground, trying to push himself up onto an elbow and failing. Blood covered one side of his face, coming from a wound at his hairline.

"Dean," Sam said again weakly as he collapsed against the ground, giving up.

"Sam!" he cried, rushing forward and kneeling beside him. "Hey, hey, Sammy."

Sam gasped for breath, eyes unfocused. Dean put a hand on his chest to both keep Sam still and anchor him as he looked his brother over. Bruises were already appearing on Sam's throat as if he had been strangled, but it was his head Dean was worried about. He glanced around, and saw a bloody rock lying on the road. He swallowed hard.

"Okay, you're okay," Dean murmured instinctively.

"D'n," Sam tried. "Nick…got away."

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Sammy, we'll get him." He glanced over, looking for Cas and Jack, but they weren't here yet. "Dammit," he muttered pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing it to Sam's head to stop the bleeding. Sam gasped, writhing in pain, seeming to have a hard time breathing, probably from being half strangled. "Just hold on okay? Cas will be here in a second to fix you up."

Sam swallowed hard, blinking as if trying to keep himself conscious.

"Hey, stay with me now, we're gonna play a little game, okay?" Dean smiled at Sam, tapping his hand against his chest to keep him grounded and conscious. "We're gonna count."

Sam nodded slightly, closing his eyes. Dean swallowed back the fear building up in him.

"Count with me now: one, two…"

"Two…" Sam whispered hoarsely.

"There you go," Dean encouraged. "Three…"

"Th-th…" Sam couldn't get it out, his eyes sliding closed again. Then he smiled slightly. "D'n, you always…put me first…"

"Shh," Dean hushed him. He wasn't going to listen to this. "Come on, man."

"…Your whole life…" Sam continued, gasping again.

Dean nodded, trying to keep his face straight. "Alright, come on, just count with me." Sam's eyes fluttered shut again, head lolling to one side. "Sammy? Hey, Sam!" Dean reached out and patted his cheek sharply, trying to get Sam to look at him again. "Cas!" Dean bellowed as Sam remained unresponsive.

"Dean!"

Dean looked up as footsteps pounded across the ground and Cas and Jack finally appeared, stopping short as they saw Sam laying on the ground.

"Sam," Cas breathed in dismay.

"Help him," Dean pleaded, hand on Sam's chest, feeling his brother's erratic, weak heartbeat.

Cas surged forward, falling to his knees at Sam's head. Jack followed, raising a hand as if to offer some help, but stepped back instead, hugging himself.

The kid looked wretched but Dean glanced back toward Cas and his injured brother, as the angel reached forward and touched Sam's forehead. A glow came from his fingers and Sam's wound started to close up.

After a few seconds Sam's eyes flew open again and he gasped in a deep breath, coughing slightly now that his lungs were able to fill completely again.

"Sammy," was all Dean could manage, helping him sit before pulling his brother against him, mostly to hide the look on his face, which he knew must be ghastly.

Sam held onto him for a second before pushing back as Dean and Cas helped him to his feet.

"What happened?" Cas asked, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder as if to check that he was alright, despite having just healed him.

"Nick somehow slipped his cuffs," Sam said, a hand on his head, rubbing the spot where his skull had nearly been caved in. "He couldn't have gotten far."

"Everyone in the car, we need to go after him now," Dean said. "He's not gonna stop until we stop him."

He turned back to Jack as he grabbed the keys. The kid still looked like he was in shock. Dean touched his shoulder gently.

"You good?"

Jack shook himself and nodded, moving forward finally.

They piled into the Impala, and Dean took a deep breath to keep his hands from shaking. He couldn't believe he'd almost lost Sam again. That had been way too close for him.

"Dean?" Sam inquired softly from the passenger seat, looking at him meaningfully. He still looked a little rattled, but the nature of the situation seemed to be helping him get past it.

Dean wasn't so sure he could say the same for himself, but he cleared his throat and shoved the key in the ignition. "I'm good. How about you?" He started the car and pulled out, turning to go back down the road.

"I'm fine," Sam said and glanced back at Cas and Jack. "Thanks, Cas. Are _you_ okay, Jack?"

Jack nodded, head slumped, still looking miserable. Dean watched in the rearview mirror as he finally looked up again, glancing between all of them. "I'm sorry," he said wretchedly.

"Jack," Sam said, turning around. "We get it. We know why you did it."

"I thought I could pull one over on him, I didn't mean for him to get away again."

"Nick is more dangerous and determined than we gave him credit for," Cas stated. "I don't think any of us anticipated this happening."

"But he does have a spell to open the Empty," Jack said, a little life coming back into him. "I saw it and it's not hard. If we can…"

"Jack, we'll talk about this later," Cas cut in with a sigh, causing the nephillim to turn away and look out the window, his jaw working. "Right now we need to stop Nick from releasing Lucifer."

"That's definitely the priority here," Dean agreed. "He couldn't have gotten far. Once we do that, we'll start to—"

He trailed off as he looked ahead and slammed on the brakes suddenly. There was a man standing in the road, waving his arms.

"What the hell?" he asked as he rolled down his window. "Hey buddy, you okay?"

"Some asshole stole my car!" he shouted. "The guy was insane, covered in blood!"

Sam scrambled in the glove compartment and brought up his FBI credentials. "Yeah, we're on his trail, which way did he go?"

The guy gestured down the road. "He went that way."

"Great, thanks," Dean said and drove off as the man looked on incredulously.

Sam was already pulling up the map on his phone again. "Okay, so there's not a lot around here but it looks like there's a couple cabins nearby. He might have found one of those and decided it looked like a good place out of the way to do the ritual."

"How far?" Dean demanded and drove in that direction.

"It should be just off this road here," Sam told him and pointed.

Dean pulled down a dirt track and cursed as the Impala scraped through the mud and snow.

Jack suddenly cried out in the backseat, and folded over.

"Jack! What's wrong?" Cas asked, gripping his shoulder.

"My…my blood feels like it's…burning!" Jack ground out, then his eyes flew wide. "Nick, he has it! He took my blood for the spell!"

"Dammit!" Dean snarled, driving faster.

The dirt path ended at a cabin and a truck was parked outside of it. Dean slammed on the brakes right behind the other vehicle and then they all jumped out, grabbing weapons and ran toward the cabin.

Dean kicked the door in and they found themselves inside a small one-room cabin. Nick was kneeling on the floor in a circle of salt, a burning bowl in front of him as he held a page he was reading a spell from.

"Stop him!" Cas shouted.

Dean lunged forward to kick the bowl aside as Sam went to tackle Nick but there was a concussive _whump_ as the atmosphere was disturbed, throwing them all back, and a tearing sound as some dark portal ripped from the very air.

Nick glanced at all of them and laughed, eyes gleaming madly. "You're too late!" he said in a sing-song voice.

The Winchesters looked on in frozen horror as the seam opened up into eternal blackness. Then something came through.

It was a horrible figure, vaguely humanoid, and dripping a tarlike substance. It stepped into the cabin, opening wings bogged down in the same dark, dripping matter. Then a pair of eyes opened in a skull-like face, glowing red.

"Lucifer," Sam breathed.

They were too late.


	7. Chapter 7

"Lucifer." Nick smiled, eyes wet with unshed tears as he looked at the figure, opening his arms wide, inviting. "I'm here."

"No!" Jack cried, still riding out the pain from the spell. He grabbed Castiel's arm to steady himself, trying to fight the burning in his blood, trying to summon his powers.

"I'm ready," Nick continued, seeming to have eyes only for the horror that had escaped the gate. "Your vessel—your perfect vessel. Make me strong again, make me _you_." He closed his eyes.

Lucifer—or some disgusting form of him—watched Nick for a moment, then turned slowly toward the others. His red eyes fell on Jack and Cas moved in front of him slightly, raising his blade.

Lucifer's skeletal face grinned. "My son."

"Don't," Castiel growled.

But Lucifer turned from Jack and focused on Sam. "Sam. My _true_ vessel."

"No!" Sam said firmly, raising his gun. "No."

Nick was furious. He stood up in the circle. "Lucifer! I am here, ready for you! I want you! Take my body as your vessel! Not him—he has forsaken you!"

Lucifer sneered slightly and then turned back to Nick, slowly reaching out a hand.

"No!" Jack shouted, pushing past Cas and throwing up a hand, summoning his powers with a huge effort born of desperation. Lucifer's blood red eyes turned on him, fury painted there as he realized he couldn't move.

Sam, Dean and Cas took that as a cue to move forward. Dean kicked over the bowl Nick had used in the spell and Sam and Cas grabbed the man from behind, Cas' blade pressed to his throat.

Jack stared down his biological father as he stood between him and his adopted family. "You will never see the light of day again," he said firmly. "You will stay there in nothing forever." His eyes blazed gold and Lucifer was shoved back several more steps toward the rift. "Don't ever come for my family again!"

With a final shout of defiance, Jack pushed with all his power and Lucifer flew back through the rift, the tear closing up behind him, sealing him in for good.

He sagged in relief, when a furious cry came from behind him.

"No!" Nick screamed, struggling against Sam and Cas. "What did you do?!"

"What he needed to do," Dean told him. "Now you're going to go away to your own prison, and never see the light of day. Consider it solidarity with your satanic boyfriend."

Nick glowered at Dean before he turned to focus on Jack. "You'll pay for that," he said, then before Jack could shout a warning, Nick flipped a blade out of his sleeve, slamming it backwards into Cas' side.

The angel cried out in shock, his grip loosening.

"Cas!" Sam and Dean cried at the same time.

Nick slammed his elbow back into Sam's face, completely freeing himself as the hunter staggered back, crashing into Dean who had gone to help.

"Jack!" Dean shouted, hands full while steadying Sam.

Nick dove for the bowl with the spell ingredients, righting it again as he threw the bloody knife in and scrambled for a match.

"No!" Jack shouted, lunging for the man, tackling him just as he dropped the smoking match into the bowl.

Nick grinned at him as he reached up, barring an arm against Jack's chest. "It's an eye for an eye, Jack. You take something from me, I take something from you. Fair?"

"No!" Jack balled a fist, but Nick slammed his own fist into Jack's face, getting his legs up between them before he kicked hard and Jack went sprawling across the floor.

Nick laughed as he got up. "Have fun with what comes next," he said.

A gunshot rang out, then another and another and soon Nick was riddled with bloody bullet holes, mouth gaping in shock before he collapsed to the ground, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

Jack scrambled into a sitting position, spinning around to stare at Sam and Dean who both had their guns pointed at Nick's still body. He exhaled slowly, breathing a sigh of relief.

"He's dead?" he asked.

Sam crossed to Jack and reached down, his hand shaking slightly, but he hauled Jack to his feet, nodding. "Yeah. He's dead."

"For good this time," Dean said. "And Lucifer sure as hell is not getting out of there again either." He stepped forward to kick Nick's corpse none-too-gently. "Good friggin' riddance."

Jack stepped over to Castiel and touched his arm. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

Cas shook his head, offering a small smile. "No. It's not bad. I'll heal soon enough."

"I'm sorry," Jack said.

"Hey, you know what? It turned out okay," Dean told him, reaching out and ruffling a hand through Jack's hair. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

That was when Cas suddenly cried out, folding double.

"Cas?" three voices echoed.

"It—burning…" Cas gritted out brow furrowing before his eyes blew wide in realization.

There was a pop in the room and they all turned, frowning as they saw the bowl of spell ingredients catch fire, briefly glowing orange.

Jack's heart was suddenly in his throat and he lunged for the bowl. "No!"

But it was too late. The concussive whump hit the room, blowing Jack's hair back as he looked up in horror to see the gate to the Empty open once more.

"What the hell?" Dean demanded, bringing up his gun.

A bunch of that black ichor oozed out, piling up from the floor to take a humanoid form.

"Is—is that Lucifer?" Sam demanded.

There was a dark chuckle as the figure took a familiar shape and soon stood there, a mirror of Castiel except with a wide, inhuman grin on its lips. "Guess again."

"You," Cas said darkly.

"Stay away!" Jack demanded, stepping forward and summoning his powers. "Stay away from him!"

"Sure thing, kid," the thing said in a nasally distortion of Castiel's voice. "If you want to go in his stead, be my guest."

"No," Cas said with a growl. "You will not take him."

"Well, I'm not going to let it take you either!" Jack shouted.

"No one's taking anyone!" Dean snarled, leveling his gun at the entity. "You stay the hell back."

The Empty rolled its eyes and pressed its fingers to the bridge of its nose as if it had a headache. "Okay, you know what, I don't have time for this."

It stepped forward. Everyone raised their weapons but the Empty simply waved its hand lazily and threw everyone back.

The hunters crashed into the walls of the cabin, collapsing on the ground and staying there, held down by some invisible force.

Jack struggled desperately, but even he couldn't move. All he could do was watch as the Empty made a point of stepping over him and the Winchesters to reach Cas.

The angel was pinned to the ground, staring up at his evil doppelganger with hatred but also defiance.

"We made a deal. You said you wouldn't come until, how did you put it? I 'finally gave myself permission to be happy'?" Cas ground out.

"Hm, yes, well, in retrospect, I thought back to when I took a look into that brain of yours and realized how bad a deal I made there. After all, you'll never _really_ allow yourself to be happy, will you? Even I can't wait that long."

Cas growled as the thing reached down and grabbed him by the front of the shirt, hauling him to his feet.

"No!" Jack cried. "Take me!"

"Jack," Cas growled.

The Empty laughed. "I'm sure I'll have you soon enough, little nephillim. And then you can be reunited with your daddy—adopted and otherwise."

Jack screamed in rage as he fought against the hold the Empty had on him, seeing Sam and Dean doing the same, shouting threats at the entity. But it paid no mind, simply dragging Cas toward the hole, the angel unable to resist.

"Take a last, long look, Castiel," the Empty said, pressing its face close to the angel's with wicked glee in its eyes as it gripped his chin, forcing him to watch his family struggle. "I want you to remember how much they care about you, how they'd do _anything_ to free you—and how they can't do a thing."

"No!" Jack screamed as the Empty stepped backwards into the rift with Cas in tow. Jack finally broke from the thing's hold and ran forward.

"Jack no!"

Jack reached out to grab Cas' hand as the angel began to disappear, but Dean lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Jack's chest, hauling him back.

The rift closed completely, swallowing Cas and the Empty together.

"No!" Jack screamed, fighting against Dean. "Let me go!"

"Jack, Jack, listen to me, we can't do anything right now, okay, not right now."

Jack elbowed Dean hard in the ribs and the hunter grunted, releasing him with a curse. Jack scrambled to the bowl of spell ingredients, looking for the sheet of paper Nick had been reading from.

"We have to save him!" he cried.

"Jack we will, but you have to listen!" Sam said, coming over and setting a hand on Jack's shoulder, trying to calm him. "I promise we'll get him back. We have the spell now, we just have to be smart about this. Let's go back to the bunker and figure it out there."

Jack heaved a shaking breath and slumped, tears falling from his eyes. "I—I failed," he whispered, slamming the bowl angrily and watching the contents scatter across the floor next to Nick's body. "I did this to _save_ him and I only got him taken instead!" He closed his eyes, fighting against the tears as he slammed his fists against his thighs. "I'm so stupid!"

Sam reached out and wrapped his arms around Jack, pulling the nephillim in against his chest. Jack struggled for only a second before he allowed the hunter to hold him, reaching up and grabbing his arms tight as if to anchor himself to something.

"I can't believe I was so stupid," he whispered again.

Dean crouched down beside them. "Jack, we've all done really stupid things to save the people we care about, okay? And we _will_ get Cas back. Nothing else is an option. But we can't just rush off and get deeper into this. We need to be smart about this, figure out what we're working with."

"We have a spell we know we can work with," Sam added. "Let's just regroup and clear our heads, okay?"

Jack nodded shakily, wiping his eyes. "Okay."

Sam helped him to his feet and they all stared down at Nick for a moment. "What are we going to do with him?" Jack asked.

Sam's face was stony as he said, "Burn him. I don't want to risk him coming back again."

"Amen, brother," Dean muttered. He reached down and slowly picked up Cas' angel blade, staring at it for a moment and swallowing hard before carefully tucking it away. "Now, come on. Let's get this over with so we can get on to more important things."

_~~~~~~~_

_Dean gripped the wheel_ tightly on the drive back to the bunker, knuckles white as he tried to keep calm when inside he was screaming. This had all been too much too quickly after getting Michael out of his head. That should have been a _good_ thing after all, but instead it seemed like everything that had happened since had just been one fresh hell after another. First they'd found out Cas was supposed to be hauled off by the freaking Empty creature at an undetermined time, then Jack had run off with Nick, and Nick had almost killed Sam. And now Cas had been taken anyway and Dean was just tired. Or maybe he was just in shock. Too much too soon. He knew he still wasn't fully recovered from Michael, but he didn't have the option to lay in bed and sleep for a week. He had to be there, and he had to be strong for Jack.

He glanced into the rearview mirror at the kid. Jack sat there staring out the window, anxiously clutching the paper that had the spell on it in his lap. Part of him wanted to be pissed at the kid for running off in the first place, making such a stupid decision, but he really couldn't be. Not when he would have done the exact same thing. And if they had been paying more attention, Dean probably would have tried to get the spell information out of Nick while the psycho was still incarcerated at the bunker. But none of them were thinking clearly and Jack had been of a one-track mind since he'd killed Michael, so no, Dean couldn't get mad at the kid. Not really.

"Okay, thanks," Sam said, finishing up a phone call he had made to Rowena.

Dean glanced over at him. "Well? What does she say about the spell?"

"She says that we should be able to use the spell to summon Cas, but we'll need a substitution for his blood so we make sure we get him. We can't just open the doorway or we don't know what will come out."

"Dammit," Dean said. "Okay, what do we have that will work?"

"Sam," Jack spoke up suddenly and Sam turned around. "Cas just healed you, I can still sense a trace of his grace in your blood."

Dean raised an eyebrow, glancing at Sam. Will that work?"

Sam shrugged. "It's all we have. But… Rowena said there might be another complication too." He hesitated, glancing back to Jack who looked up, worry in his eyes.

"What, Sam?" Dean demanded. "Spit it out."

"Well, she says that we can definitely summon Cas from the Empty just like Nick did with Lucifer, but we can't keep him here. Not if that thing has a hold on him."

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered.

"Then what do we do?" Jack demanded. "We can't leave him there!"

"Rowena's looking for something that can either break the hold the Empty has on him or something that will bind him here," Sam reassured him. "But we can't perform the spell until we have that, we'll only have a short window to do the other spell before the Empty just takes Cas back, or comes through and kills all of us."

"Then I'll kill it first!" Jack snarled.

"I don't think that's an option, Jack," Dean said grimly. "If you even _could_ kill it, we have no idea what might happen if it isn't down there anymore. We could have all kinds of bad things escaping. It's all full of dead angels and demons, and trust me, you don't want some of the ones we sent down there coming back." Michael included. He suppressed a shudder.

Jack squared his jaw and turned back toward the window.

"I'm going to look through some of our stuff when we get home too," Sam said. "Between the Men of Letters archives and what Rowena has, we should be able to come up with something that would work."

Dean nodded and went back to fighting down his growing anxiety and anger. They would get Cas back if it was the last thing they did.

_~~~~~~~_

_Castiel tried to fight_ as he was dragged away by the Empty, but he couldn't even move. He could only watch in frozen horror as his family screamed in protest as the Empty slowly pulled him back through the rift, seeming to thrive on every second of suffering. Jack rushed forward and for a moment, Castiel was terrified that he would jump in after them, but at the last second Dean grabbed him and then the rift closed, cutting off their screams, with silent darkness.

The hold the Empty had on him ceased and Castiel fell bonelessly to the ground as the thing dropped him. He sucked in a breath he didn't really need to breathe, his ears pounding in the silence, disoriented by the pure black of his surroundings.

"Well, here we are again," the Empty said, standing over him, still borrowing the angel's form. Its hands were in its pockets and it was grinning gleefully.

Castiel struggled to his knees, looking up with fury at his captor. "You have me. And I will still hold by my word—I'll sleep. But only if you promise to let Heaven have Jack's soul when he does finally die. That was the deal."

The Empty threw its head back and gave a nasally laugh. "Oh, oh, no, I'm sorry, Castiel, hm, yes, it seems there been a misunderstanding. You don't get to sleep yet, no. Not in the slightest." It reached down and grabbed a handful of Castiel's hair, hauling his head backward at a painful angle. "First I'm going to make you suffer. For every moment I've been awake, I will give you a new, _excruciating_ agony! I think that's fair after all the trouble you caused me, hm, don't you think?"

Castiel glowered at it. "Do what you want. I gave myself willingly to you. Just don't take Jack."

"That will really be the least of your concerns soon enough," the Empty said with glee. It waved its hand and Castiel was thrown onto his back. The floor that had been solid before started to writhe under him and ropes of darkness began to form, wrapping around his body, keeping him from moving before they started branching off, slipping under his clothes and then digging into his flesh, assaulting his vessel and burrowing into his true form. Castiel's eyes blew wide at the agony, and he threw his head back with a cry, struggling against the ropes of darkness that tormented him.

The Empty crouched down beside him, laughing as it watched Castiel's suffering. "Yes, yes, this is brilliant, but…" It waved a hand again and another dark vine pushed its way into Castiel's mouth effectively gagging him. "Can't be too loud. Don't want to wake up anyone else, now do we?" It patted his cheek and then waved its hand again lazily, forcing the darkness to dig deeper into Castiel's flesh. It laughed maniacally as his muffled screams echoed in the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack hurried to the library the instant they got to the bunker. He set the spell on the table and began assembling all the things they would need for it as Sam and Dean threw their bags down in one corner and started looking through the books for their best resources.

All Jack could think of was Castiel. He could only replay the image of him being dragged off by the Empty over and over again. He had no idea what that thing was doing to the angel even now, how deep it was taking Cas. What if even with the spell Jack wasn't able to reach Cas again? Did the angel have to be awake? Could Jack wake him up again if he needed to?

He clenched his fists after dropping the box of spell ingredients onto the table heavily. He tried to breathe, knowing he needed to calm down if he was going to be of any help and yet, he couldn't. This had all been his fault because he was such an idiot!

"Jack." Sam's soft voice reached him and he forced his eyes open again and turned to see the younger Winchester standing at his shoulder. "Do we have everything we need here?"

Jack steadied himself again, putting himself to the task of assembling the supplies. He opened the box and took out all the items they would need, setting them beside a bowl, He also found some of Castiel's feathers the angel had donated for spells in the box. If Sam's blood didn't work, then maybe that would. It would be a backup plan anyway. He nodded to Sam.

"Yeah, we have everything we need."

"Okay, well, there's that at least," Sam said, touching his shoulder. "Now, how about we find another spell to keep Cas out of that thing's clutches?"

Jack nodded and dove into the research furiously, scanning copious texts and discarding most of them. Some he saved to ask Rowena about, but he really wasn't sure what they were looking for. It seemed like after he'd looked so hard to find the spell that would open the Empty, he had taken more of a step back than anything now since that spell was practically useless without something to make sure Cas stayed with them instead of just being sucked back into the Empty, making all their efforts for nothing.

Dean slipped out to make coffee and sandwiches, but Jack didn't want any. He continued flipping through the books until his eyes wanted to burn, growing more and more furious as he went.

He had all his powers back—but what good were they if they couldn't even help him save the people he loved? He may as well just be powerless again for all the use he was getting out of them. Yes, he had sent Lucifer back to the Empty, but he still couldn't call out the keeper and kill it, or at the very least make sure it never came back.

Jack jumped when Sam's phone rang and the hunter snatched it, answering it instantly. "Rowena, hey."

He listened for a second, Jack and Dean looking on in tense anticipation, then Sam grabbed a notepad and pen and started jotting down notes.

"And you're sure about this?" Sam asked. Rowena's voice sounded indignant over the phone and Sam rolled his eyes slightly. "Okay. Thank you, Rowena, really."

He set the phone down and picked up the notepad.

"Okay, this is the spell Rowena sent us. She said that it's a little complicated, but it should still work for what we need it to."

Jack took the notepad and frowned. "Spell of claiming?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

Sam waved a hand dismissively. "It's a poor translation, but essentially it's like, a type of binding spell. But we'd be binding Cas to us, we'd be _claiming_ him. Essentially it would mean that if he was under any other spell or the hold of someone else, this would erase that."

"Okay, but, he made a deal with a freaking…cosmic entity. How the hell are we going to beat that?" Dean demanded.

"Easy," Sam said, setting the notepad down and pulling the box of spell ingredients over to him, rummaging through it to find what they needed. "Ninety percent of magic is about conviction. Cas is our family. He's Jack's father, he's our brother, we have that tie to him on our side, years of interactions. The Empty only has revenge in mind. There's no way its power can contest this."

"And this won't hurt Cas at all?" Jack asked, not wanting to hope too much.

Sam shook his head. "Rowena said he will never even notice the binding is there unless we want him to."

"And it's permanent?" Dean asked. "Not gonna wear off in a month or a year or anything?"

"As long as we don't release Cas from the binding, it won't wear out," Sam told him, setting several bottles on the table and pulling out a mortar and pestle. He turned to Jack. "Jack, you set up the gate spell, Dean, you draw this sigil on the floor."

Jack nodded and started assembling the spell as Dean started to make a circle kind of like a devil's trap on a large empty space on the library's floor. Sam assembled the binding spell into another bowl, and they were all done at about the same time.

"Okay, I think we have everything set up," Sam said. He looked between Jack and Dean. "Now all we need is the blood."

They each pulled out a knife and cut their hands over the bowl, watching the red liquid drip onto the other contents. Jack watched the blood mingle together, hoping that their love for Cas together would be strong enough to save him. He tried to put all the conviction he had into his heart as he watched his blood dribble into the bowl. How much he cared for the angel, how he thought of him as a father. How he always had; choosing him as his protector before he was even born.

"Alright," Sam said, pulling his palm back as Dean handed him a handkerchief to wrap it with. "We have to activate this as soon as Cas appears. The other spell should summon him, but I don't know how long we'll have before the Empty comes after him again."

"And what if it does? We don't even know what kills that bastard," Dean growled.

"I'll send it back," Jack said firmly. "No matter what."

Sam put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be right here too, Jack. You're not doing this alone."

In reality, he knew he was far more powerful than the Winchesters, and yet those words make him feel a thousand times better. Knowing Sam and Dean had his back. It helped him stand straighter. He took up the paper with the written spell on it again and grabbed a can of salt, making a circle big enough for all of them to get into opposite the sigil Dean had painted on the floor. He crouched and set the bowl down before taking a deep breath, flexing his powers so that they would be ready at a moment's notice.

"Ready?" Dean asked, handing him a box of matches.

Jack nodded, placing the spell beside the bowl as he took the matches. "Ready."

"Let's do this," Dean said.

Jack lit the match and threw it into the bowl.

_~~~~~~~_

_Castiel swam through darkness_ and agony. He had no concept of time anymore. He had no idea how long it had been, but he felt as if his very being had been flayed alive. Probably because it had.

The primordial darkness, the powers that the Empty commanded, ruthlessly dug into his true form, ravaging every inch of him. It crawled through his veins like poison, searching out every nerve to mete out even more excruciating pain. He could hardly manage to scream anymore, even if he hadn't been gagged. He had no strength left.

And yet…he felt something. A ping, almost like when Jack had woken him the first time in the Empty. He could feel it deep in his chest, something tugging on him, wanting him to go, but he couldn't move with the Empty's hold on him.

The entity, still mockingly wearing his face, looked up suddenly with a snarl, seeming to sense the disturbance too. He kicked Castiel in the side before crouching down. "They're trying to summon you, Castiel. Your boy and those pesky humans."

Of course. They wouldn't give up. Castiel struggled, trying to move the ropes as the tugging increased, becoming uncomfortable now even over all the torment, but he still couldn't get free, not even an inch.

"Don't get any ideas, now, there's still our deal to consider, you know. What do you think I'll do if you break free? Contract terminated, I go after poor, innocent Jack—is that what you want?"

Castiel felt a sharp panic at the threat, shaking his head as much as he could.

The Empty grinned. "No, of course you don't want that, but, hm, they'll keep insisting, until they see you, won't they? So why don't we pop out there and let them see you. Let them see what I'm doing to you, let them keep this image in their heads so they can cry themselves to sleep, just like you will. What do you say?"

Castiel shook his head again, horrified at the thought that Jack and the Winchesters would see him like this only to have to watch him get dragged back to the Empty all over again. He knew it would destroy them.

The Empty only laughed and grabbed Castiel by the shoulders, hauling him up onto his knees. The dark vines that held him detached from the floor, and wrapped around him like snakes instead, keeping him immobile. Now that he wasn't attached to the floor anymore, the tug of the spell got stronger and Castiel grunted in discomfort.

The Empty gripped his shoulder tightly. "Show time."

A tear in the darkness appeared and Castiel braced himself before he closed his eyes against the sudden bright light.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack fidgeted as the seconds_ dragged on, watching the smoldering flames in the bowl.

"Did I do it wrong? Why isn't it working?" he fretted, grabbing the spell sheet again, and looking it over. But he had followed the instructions exactly. "Maybe Sam's blood didn't work after all."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, not saying anything, but Jack caught their expressions. They were worried too, doubting. Jack wanted to scream. They didn't have another option!

And then finally, there came what was a now familiar concussive whump and Jack spun back to the circle they had made on the floor and saw the rift open directly over it.

Sam and Dean quickly planted themselves on either side of him, weapons at the ready—for what good those would do—as the rift widened.

First came the Empty, still wearing Cas' form, and it was dragging the real Castiel behind it.

Jack's heart stuttered in his chest, as he saw the angel. Cas was bound with what looked like dark writhing ropes, one even covering his mouth to keep him from talking. He was thrown to the floor on his knees, slumping. His clothes were torn, blood and black goo dripping from between the tears, and he looked like he could barely keep his head up.

"Cas," Sam breathed.

"What the hell did you do to him, you son of a bitch?" Dean demanded, taking one step forward, gripping an angel blade tight.

The Empty grinned, the look unnerving on Castiel's borrowed face. "Hm, pains you to see your angel like this, does it? Good. We've been having so much fun together, and then you disruptive little maggots decide to butt in and interrupt our nice chat."

The Empty reached down and grabbed a fistful of Cas' hair, yanking his head back. The ropes around him writhed and Cas let out a muffled cry of pain. Jack watched in horror. It looked like they were digging into his body as well as binding him!

"Let him go!" he cried before he could stop himself.

The Empty laughed, dismissively releasing Cas with a shove, nearly sending the angel completely to the ground.

"Oh, foolish little boy," it taunted. "There will be no letting him go. Not now, not ever! He's mine now, he came for you, and you don't want to make his sacrifice in vain, now do you? Otherwise I'd just take you both right now and save myself the trouble later."

Cas' eyes blew wide in panic, shaking his head.

While Jack was talking to the Empty though, Sam and Dean had taken up the bowl with the other spell.

"Actually, douchebag, he's _ours_ ," Dean said firmly before Sam started chanting the spell and Dean picked up the matches.

"What are you doing?" the Empty asked suspiciously, grabbing hold of Cas again. "Stop that!"

"No!" Jack said firmly and Dean threw the match into the bowl as Sam finished the spell. The bowl flared with fire and the sigil under Castiel and the Empty began to glow.

"We claim him," Sam told the Empty as the thing stared between them frantically, trying to figure out what was going on.

"He's ours now," Dean added. "Our family."

Jack watched the dark ropes binding Cas wriggle in discomfort as the Empty simply stared at them in disbelief.

"He's our brother," Sam said.

"He's my father," Jack added, watching as the vines hissed and looked like they were retreating from Cas. The angel cried out in pain.

"No!" the Empty snarled.

"He's not yours!" Jack shouted finally. "He's bound by our blood now! Your hold on him doesn't exist!"

The ropey blackness shrieked and flew from Cas, releasing him entirely as they eked back toward the rift that led to the Empty. Cas cried out in agony and slumped to the ground as the Empty watched in fury. It reached to grab the back of Cas' torn coat but pulled its hand back almost instantly as if burned.

It turned to Jack, Castiel's visage deforming into something black and primordial. "You! You'll pay for this!"

"You'll never get your hands on him again!" Jack said firmly and brought up his hand, summoning his powers. The Empty sneered before it was buffeted in the chest. Looking shocked, its head whipped up to stare at Jack but the nephillim summoned all his strength and pushed.

The Empty screamed, fighting the power. It's borrowed form began to dissolve into terrible blackness, revealing its true nature. Jack gave everything he had until finally it couldn't hold its own anymore and flew backwards, into the rift that it had come out of with a furious screech. Jack kept pushing until the rift closed and there was no sign that a portal to the Empty had been opened in that room.

He dropped his hand, the only sound just his and the Winchesters' breathing, and Cas' soft moans.

He snapped out of his shock in an instant and ran toward the angel, skidding to a halt on his knees beside him.

"Cas?" he asked tentatively, still seeing the tears in the angel's clothes, blood seeping out of them.

But Cas was already struggling to push himself up, looking up at Jack with a weary smile.

"Jack," he managed to croak before Jack took hold of him, pulling him the rest of the way to his knees as he wrapped his arms around Cas.

The angel returned the embrace, slumping with a weary yet relieved sigh, and held on as Jack buried his face in his surrogate father's shoulder and let the tears that threatened finally spill out. Cas pressed his cheek to the top of Jack's head, holding him tighter.

In another second, Sam and Dean joined them and encircled their angel and nephillim in a protective, relieved embrace.

They stayed like that for a long time on the library floor until Jack felt Cas slump more heavily against him, a small groan escaping his throat.

"Cas?" Jack asked worriedly, pulling back to look at the angel.

Sam and Dean heard the worry in his voice and pulled back as well. Cas slumped even further and Dean wrapped an arm around his chest to keep him upright.

"Cas, hey," he said, as the angel's head lolled backwards against his shoulder.

Cas let out a cough, and blood dribbled out the corner of his mouth. His eyes were closed and he looked terribly pale. Jack watched in horror as Dean struggled to yank Cas' shirt up, revealing wounds littering his torso, punctures where the primordial darkness had forced its way into his flesh.

"Oh god," Sam breathed, climbing to his feet. "Let's get him into bed."

They carried Cas into his room and laid him on the bed. Jack watched anxiously as Sam and Dean carefully undressed him to see the extent of his injuries, which were indeed grievous.

"Let me try healing him," Jack said, pushing forward. Truthfully he was exhausted. Apparently sending the Empty back to its realm had drained him more than he had realized, but he would do anything if it meant helping Cas.

Sam stepped aside to let him come closer to the bed and Jack took Cas' hand gently before reaching out and touching the angel's forehead.

Destruction. Terror and darkness took hold of him as he pushed his powers into Cas to heal him. He could feel every inch of agony Cas had suffered at the hands of the Empty and it was horrifying.

"Jack!" He didn't realize that he was screaming—or falling—until Sam caught him in his arms. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"It's just…so much," the nephillim said shakily before pushing away from Sam and reaching out to continue the healing. It was like patching rags. There were so many holes in Cas' body and his grace. Tears fell down Jack's cheeks, knowing this was because of him.

"Jack, stop!"

Dean's commanding voice cut through and Jack opened his eyes again, reeling. He was so dizzy, he collapsed on the floor.

"Cas," he slurred, as Dean grabbed him under the elbows, getting him on his feet and wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Come on," Dean murmured, pulling him around the other side of the bed.

"I have to…"

"You did enough for now," Dean told him gently, pushing Jack down on the bed beside Cas. "He'll be okay. You can finish later."

Jack wanted to protest, but found he couldn't. He turned his head to look at Cas' pale form lying next to him, but his eyes were already blurring again and he closed them, feeling a warm weight settle over him, caring hands tucking it around his shoulders before one brushed through his hair.

"You did good, kid. Rest now."

And Jack really had no choice but to obey.

_~~~~~~~_

_Castiel knew he was awake_ , but his body didn't seem to want to agree. He couldn't remember feeling this bad maybe _ever_ , and with everything he had gone through that was saying something. The only thing he could compare this to was when he had been stabbed by Ramiel. And that wasn't something he had ever wanted to be reminded of.

Still, he thought he had been a lot worse before this, though he was a little fuzzy on what had happened.

The memories slowly started to trickle back with consciousness. He remembered stopping Nick and being dragged into the Empty—and yet he knew he wasn't there anymore. So how…

Then he remembered Jack, standing there with Sam and Dean doing some kind of spell that had freed him from the Empty and sent it back to its own realm. But at what cost? Had Jack given himself in his stead?

He finally managed to force his eyes open, blinking away the bleariness as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey, there you are."

He glanced over to see Dean sitting in a chair by his bed, leaning forward anxiously. "How are you feeling?"

Castiel swallowed hard, his mouth dry and even his throat hurting. "I—" he choked and Dean instantly went to grab a cup of water from the sink, cupping the back of his head and helping him drink it. That helped a bit and Castiel was able to speak again.

"I have felt better," he said honestly, slumping wearily back against the pillows.

Dean nodded grimly. "Jack's been trying to heal you in spells, but…it seems to take a lot out of him without much progress."

Castiel's ears pricked up with relief. "Jack's here? He's safe?"

Dean smiled and nodded to the other side of the bed. "He's fine."

Castiel turned and saw the nephillim curled up on the other side of the bed, sleeping soundly. Relief and affection surged through him, helping him relax a little bit more.

"What the Empty did…it was an attack to both my vessel and my true form. The damage was…extensive."

"We know, you looked a hell of a lot worse when we first got you back," Dean said, jaw tight.

"And Jack hasn't been hurting himself healing me?" Castiel asked worriedly. "I will heal eventually on my own, it just might take a while."

Dean smiled wryly. "Sam and I have been monitoring him, making sure he eats and sleeps between sessions, but do you really think you could stop him?"

Castiel huffed slightly. "No." He glanced over at the sleeping nephillim again before turning back to Dean. "How did you get me out of there?"

Dean shifted slightly, looking a little uncomfortable. "It was a, uh, claiming spell. It bound you to us so any hold anyone else had on you was no longer valid."

Castiel furrowed his brow. Yes, he supposed that could work.

"I hope you're not mad," Dean said. "It was just the only thing we could think of. You're family, after all. It doesn't make you feel any different, does it?"

Castiel searched himself, but all he could feel was the damage done by the Empty. He shook his head. "No. And I don't mind. I would have done the same thing. But this…this doesn't mean that the Empty will come for Jack now, does it?"

"As far as we can tell that bastard can't touch any of our asses again, but if it comes for Jack we'll just use the spell on him too."

Castiel nodded and turned to watch the nephillim sleep quietly. "I just can't lose him. Not again."

"I know," Dean said softly.

Castiel slumped back against the pillows and allowed gravity to pull his eyes shut once more. "Just make sure he doesn't overtax himself."

"We will," Dean said and pulled the blanket up over Castiel's shoulders. "Now get some rest, man."

Castiel murmured something unintelligible even to himself as he began to drift off again almost instantly.

It was good to be back.

_~~~~~~~_

_It took nearly a week_ for Cas to get back on his feet but Jack dutifully kept up the healing sessions until he was satisfied that Castiel was mostly back in one piece.

They were all exhausted. Mary had come to help them out, making supply runs and even Rowena had stopped by to make sure the spell had gone correctly.

But once Cas was out of danger and had the capacity to make a stand on the matter, he insisted Jack only give him one healing session a day. Jack didn't want to admit he was slightly relieved. Every time he healed Cas he felt the agony his surrogate father had gone through. For him. Because of him. He wasn't sure why this was so different than all the times he'd healed Cas before. He didn't know if it was because the damage had been wrought by something as old as the Empty, or if it was some strange side-effect of the binding spell they had done. Either way, he would still bear the pain if it meant getting Cas back to health.

Jack didn't do much in those days except heal Cas, eat at Sam and Dean's bidding, and sleep after every healing session. The exhaustion seemed to be unavoidable, and when he had done as much as he could in a sitting, painstakingly patching Cas' true form and vessel back together, he would almost instantly fall asleep, always right next to Cas, not wanting to leave the angel's side for even a second.

Jack woke one morning after a longer rest than usual and had a moment of panic to find Cas wasn't on the other side of the bed. He leapt up, still somewhat dizzy, and hurried out into the bunker.

He heard voices and followed them into the library where Cas sat at the table with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and Dean putting a tray of coffee and breakfast in front of him as Sam sat across the table, a small smile of amusement on his face as Cas protested.

"Dean, I don't really need to eat…"

"Yeah and you need to keep your strength up somehow, so get to it," Dean replied.

Cas shared a longsuffering look with Sam and the younger Winchester held up his hands. "Hey, if I've learned anything, it's to just do what he says."

Dean's head whipped around. "What was that, Sammy? Do what I say?—oh, now that's going on the record."

Sam made a face, which made Dean call him a 'bitch', and Sam call him a 'jerk' in return. Jack settled at the sound of their banter and Sam finally looked up to see him standing in the doorway.

"Jack, hey, you're up," he smiled.

Jack moved toward them and sat next to Sam, staring over the table at Cas. The angel was pale and there were still some cuts littering his face and more under his clothes, but he looked okay for the first time in days.

"Hi, Jack," Cas said.

Jack swallowed hard, trying to push his fears back now that it seemed like everything was getting better. "How are you?"

"I'm better," Cas said with a small smile. "I heard you have been healing me."

Jack nodded, looking down at the table. "I'm sorry it's taking so long."

"Don't be, I'm much better now and you don't need to exert yourself anymore."

Jack bit his lip. "It's just…it only happened because of me and…"

"Jack." Cas reached across the table and put his hand over the nephillim's. "You know that's not true. What you did do is find a way to save me."

"While getting you caught in the first place."

Cas smiled kindly at him. "Sometimes you have to do worse in order to make something better. It is an unfortunate lesson I have learned many times."

Jack nodded slowly. "I think I am learning that too."

A tray suddenly appeared before him and he looked up at Dean who patted him on the back. "Eat up, kiddo."

Jack found that he was actually incredibly hungry. He picked up the fork and ate. Cas did the same with a sigh after Dean glared at him. Then the two Winchesters sat down with their cups of coffee and the four of them started chatting. It felt good, and Jack's appetite grew even more as his body settled.

Now that Castiel was out of danger, Dean reinstated their time off vacation. Not that any of them could manage to do much more than sit around and play games or watch movies anyway at the moment. But it felt good to have just some time to themselves, to be a family without impending doom hanging over their heads for once—and for real this time time. All their enemies were dead or gone, it was just up to them to rest up and then get back out there to do their job—save people and hunt things.

Jack watched his family recover, and every step they took healed him as well. Dean seemed much more relaxed. Finally allowing himself to feel free again now that Michael was dead. Sam was allowing himself to smile again, seeming to have released the guilt he had been keeping inside about the dead hunters. Seeing Sam let go of that, helped Jack to forgive himself for what had happened with Cas. After all, they had gotten him back. That was the important thing.

And Cas started teaching Jack how to use his powers, and giving him training in all kinds of fighting, giving him his own angel blade to practice with. Rowena even offered to teach him some magic and he found he was actually quite good at it.

Over all, Jack was finally looking forward to the future. He knew that there would be more hardships ahead, after all, there always were, but he knew that as long as they stayed together, there was nothing that could really truly be so awful that they couldn't face it shoulder to shoulder.

Jack smiled, contented that he no longer felt attached to the legacy of his biological father. He was a Winchester through and through, and with that knowledge, he thought he would be okay.

He felt ready for the next adventure life threw at him.


End file.
